


Let Me Be Your Ruler

by Halzbarry



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Eddie and Felicity are Siblings, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Minor Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, Modern Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-05-05 09:57:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 37,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5371043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halzbarry/pseuds/Halzbarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eddie is the Prince of Gedova and decides to take a tour of the United States, preferably in a place that's not full of diplomats and celebrities, which is how he ends up in Central City. </p><p>Barry is just a forensic scientist and a good friend and foster brother to Iris West, which is how he ends up in Jitters helping her sneak an interview with the prince. </p><p>What neither of them expected was to find a mutual attraction to one another so suddenly. And they both have to navigate how they can fit into each other's worlds when one is a prince and the other is just an average Joe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually my Flash Big Bang fic, but I had to stop before the Big Bang was over, so now I'm going to post it now in bits and pieces! It's not completely done yet, but since I've managed to finish more than half of it, I decided to post a few chapters now! Hope you enjoy!

Barry ran down the street, once again wishing he’d actually invested in buying a car because running around everywhere was really starting to get frustrating. When he saw the text from Iris, in all capitals telling him to meet her at the coffee shop, he swore he’d never run as much in his entire life as he had just then.

When he arrived at Jitters he saw a huge crowd of people and paparazzi all clamoring to get inside the coffee shop, and it got him wondering what was going on. For a moment he had panicked, thinking something terrible happened and Iris was in danger. When he heard a small group of teenage girls scream the name Prince Edward, he knew exactly what was going on.

Barry had heard non-stop all week about the arrival of Edward Thawne in Central City for some reason that was unknown to him, and Iris had been raving about it all week in an attempt to try and get Barry interested too. Barry knew Iris’ ulterior motive for it.

The Central City PD were assigned to protection detail throughout the prince’s stay, and Iris had been trying to get in close to the prince through either Joe or Barry to get an interview with him for the Central City Picture News. Joe had quickly shot her down which left her with the option of trying to coerce Barry into helping her. Given the fact that the prince was seemingly inside and she was too proved that she didn’t even need either of them in the first place.

The doors were closed but that didn’t stop the crowd from pushing to try and get front standing room to see the prince. Barry groaned and walked around to the back where he knew the employee entrance was, sending Iris a text to let her know where to meet him.

When he found the back entrance, the door swung open and Iris was there to greet him, quickly scanning the area.

“Hurry up before the paparazzi show up!” she exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling him into the shop. He shut the door behind him and Iris immediately started rubbing out the wrinkles in her navy dress and taking deep breaths, her usual stressed routine that Barry was accustomed to.

“How do I look?” she asked.

Barry cast her a perplexed glance, but tried his best to hide with a smile. “You look fine,” he praised. “Is this all so you can get an interview with the prince?”

Barry had done a poor job of hiding his disdain for the prince’s arrival the last few days. Ever since he'd arrived in town there had been an increase in traffic and foreign people and paparazzi and. And because of the prince's arrival Iris had been totally distracted by the man, and as a result he and Iris barely had any quality friend time which only served to irritate him even more. He would be happy when the guy left so the city could go back to normal and stop catering for this one man.

Iris led Barry through the door that led to the restaurant and cracked the door just enough for her and Barry to peek through it.

“See! He’s right there!” she pointed out and Barry, after laying eyes on him, ended up missing everything that Iris had said to him after that.

Objectively the guy was pretty handsome: neatly combed blonde hair, a crisp suit, a tie, and, from what Barry could remember seeing on the news, a pretty bright smile too. Perhaps he was thinking too hard about the prince because he was starting to feel light in his chest.

“Barry,” Iris called out.

“Huh—sorry, what were you saying?” Barry said, shaking his head a little to break him out of his fascination with the prince.

Iris looked at him funny, but ignored it and continued talking. “I was explaining how Kendra called and got me into the shop before they shut the place down for the prince, and now I’m gonna see if I can get an interview with him,” she explained.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Iris? I mean if they shut the place down I don’t exactly think they want you asking him for an interview while he drinks his coffee.”

“Well, I’ll never know unless I try, right?” she replied optimistically. She took one last deep breath and opened the door. “Wish me luck.”

Before he could protest again, she had marched out onto the floor of the restaurant and he recognized several officers from the CCPD among some of the prince's own personal security detail. He felt a sense of dread grow stronger inside him as Iris got closer, especially as all eyes in Jitters turned to focus in on her.

Curiosity and a that protective urge he got when it came to Iris eventually got the better of him and he quietly slipped out of the employee entryway into Jitters to better watch what was happening. He noticed, however that several of the officers had started to move immediately in front of Iris, effectively blocking her from the prince.

“I just want to ask him a few questions for the Central City Picture News,” Iris complained.

Detective Chyre, Joe’s partner was the one who spoke, looking noticeably exasperated having to lecture his partner’s daughter.

“C’mon, Iris. The man just wants to enjoy his coffee in peace. No paparazzi, no journalists. You know we can’t bend the rules for you.”

“Fine. Don’t bend the rules,” she answered instantly. She leaned over to get a good look at the prince in between Detective Chyre and another officer and Barry knew this wasn't going to end well at all.

“Prince Edward! I’m Iris West with the Central City Picture News! Do you have a moment to—” Iris was cut off when Detective Chyre begrudgingly grabbed her hand and led her away from the spot where Prince Edward had been seated.

Throughout the entire exchange Barry had watched the prince to see how he reacted to the whole thing and was surprised to see that the man appeared completely unbothered by the commotion. He continued drinking his coffee like nothing was wrong. Initially he’d been glaring at the prince, silently venting his frustration with the man, but the glare had gradually softened, especially when he swore the prince had looked in his direction once or twice and smiled.

“I just have a few questions for him,” Iris argued.

Barry groaned. “Iris, why?” he bemoaned before walking out to get her. When he showed up 

Chyre rolled his eyes and huffed.

“Not you too, Allen.”

“Sorry, Fred. I’m just here because Iris told me to come,” he explained.

“Barry, you’ve seen me interview people. Tell him how quick it’ll be,” Iris argued.

“Iris, we should just go. The man clearly doesn’t want to be bothered and we’re both going to cause a scene.” Barry advised, looking back at the employees who looked baffled and the people and paparazzi outside there trying to snap photos.

“I’m not leaving until I ask him one question. That’s all I need.” Iris refused stubbornly.

“Iris, don’t make me escort you off the property and call Joe.” Chyre threatened.

Iris didn’t budge an inch and Barry sighed and shook his head. It would take a miracle or an act of a higher deity to make Iris cooperate when she was this close and determined to get something.

“I don’t know if you’re willing to hear me out, but I think I might have a suggestion for your problem,” another man commented. Barry, Iris and Detective Chyre all looked up to see that the Prince himself was now standing and making his way towards them, his entourage of bodyguards following his every move.

Barry didn’t know why he felt nervous and jittery as the Prince approached, and he had to nervously look away because the prince was smiling right at them—and yeah that smile was every bit as perfect in real life as it was on the news.

“Prince Edward, I apologize for all of this,” Chyre hastily apologized. “We’ll escort both of them off the premises immediately, and make sure no one else bothers you.”

The prince smiled cheerfully at the detective but his attention was very clearly focused on Barry and Iris.

“It’s fine, actually. I like a little bit of excitement, and I haven’t had an opportunity to interact with any regular people since I got here. Honestly they’re the ones I want to get to know.” the Prince replied.

Barry tried hard not to stare at the prince but was failing miserably and knew it. His only solace was that Iris, too, was almost completely enthralled with the man which made him look a little bit better. The prince extended a hand towards Iris which she quickly shook with enthusiasm.

“Edward Thawne,” he introduced.

Iris took a deep breath to regain her composure, and Barry watched her put on her professional journalist face although her obvious fangirl smile crept through.

“Iris West. Journalist for the Central City Picture News, and very big fan of you and your family.” she greeted and turned to Barry as he tried to signal for her not to introduce him, but she either didn’t understand it or chose to willingly ignore him. “And this is my best friend and foster brother, Barry Allen.”

Eddie turned his attention to Barry and their gazes connected for a moment. Barry felt weak in his knees as he watched the prince’s eyes rake up and down his body in one quick motion. The Prince grinned, but it wasn’t that normal princely smile he’d given everyone else. This one had a hint of cockiness in it, almost like he was trying to impress or charm him, but it had been a long time since anyone had remotely looked at him like that though, so he wasn't even sure if what he was seeing was right.

Prince Edward put his hand out for Barry to shake and Barry slowly grasped it, shaking the prince’s hand gently. “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Allen.” Their handshake lingered for just a bit longer than Barry had expected, but eventually the prince slowly withdrew his hand. However his crystal blue eyes idled on Barry just a bit longer.

“Prince Edward, I wanted to ask if you would be willing to do an interview with me for the CCPN? I’d greatly appreciate it,” Iris inquired, stealing the prince’s gaze from Barry. He’d thank Iris for it later.

“Absolutely, Ms. West, on two conditions,” Prince Edward countered. Iris and Barry turned towards each other, a sense of suspense starting to build. “My first is that we go somewhere that doesn’t require a suit and tie to fit in.”

Iris let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “I can definitely make that happen. What’s the other condition, your Highness?” she asked.

“Please, just Edward or even Eddie. You don’t need to call me your Highness,” the Prince corrected. Prince Edward’s gaze turned back towards Barry again, making him wonder what he’d done to warrant the prince’s attention again. “The second condition is that your friend Barry join us—that is if he doesn’t have anything else planned tomorrow night for dinner?”

Iris immediately spun her head in Barry’s direction and while she didn’t look outwardly threatening, Barry could sense the ‘I will kill you if you mess up this opportunity for me’ feeling underneath her smile.

“Umm, sure. I don’t have anything to do—I think,” Barry answered.

“Fantastic. So dinner tomorrow at…” Eddie stopped to let Iris fill in the blanks with whatever restaurant they would be going to.

“Oh right,” Iris said with sudden realization. “How about that steakhouse you love so much, Barry? The one downtown on 5th Street.”

Barry wanted everyone to stop saying his name because every time someone said it, the Prince would turn to look at him with those intense blue eyes and he was starting to feel like his gaze was burning a hole through him.

“Uhh sure, sounds good to me—I mean if the Prince even likes steakhouses,” Barry stammered, more anxious the longer Prince Edward focused his attention on him.

“A steakhouse sounds like a fantastic idea to me, especially if this place is one of your favorite places to eat.” Prince Edward said, talking directly to Barry.

Iris could hardly contain her excitement and Barry could see it was taking just about every ounce of her being not scream and jump up and down. This would no doubt be her huge break at the Picture News, and while Barry wasn’t a huge fan of formal affairs like dinners with royalty, he couldn’t let Iris down. He also secretly enjoyed staring at Prince Edward, but that was something he’d keep to himself.

“So how does tomorrow night at seven sound, Prince Edward?” she asked.

“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you tomorrow at seven at the steakhouse on 5th Street,Ms. West,” Prince Edward answered with a gracious smile on his face. He turned again to Barry and gave him one final grin. “I look forward to seeing you tomorrow as well, Barry.”

“Uhh—yeah—me too,” Barry stammered.

The Prince’s bodyguards and the other CCPD officers started clearing out a pathway for the prince to exit the coffee shop without having to deal with the hassle while Barry, Iris and Detective Chyre watched as the prince exited to his car.

When the prince was gone, Detective Chyre turned to Barry and Iris, bewilderment and irritation drawn all over his face. “Joe is not gonna be happy when I tell him about this. You better hope you two don’t end up in the tabloids after the stunt you just pulled.”

Whatever Detective Chyre said was almost immediately forgotten when Iris squealed with excitement and grabbed Barry’s hands, shaking them ecstatically. “I can’t believe I have an interview with the Prince of Gedova!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah… sounds great,” Barry replied unsure.

Iris gave him a weird look. “C’mon Bar, be a little bit more excited. We just got an invite to dinner tomorrow with royalty, and he definitely was checking you out.” She gave a very knowing glance and elbowed him playfully.

“There’s no way. He’s a prince, and princes don’t stare at peasants like us.” Barry said with a teasing grin to push her off the subject.

Iris smiled. “I know that look when I see it, Barry and he was totally giving it to you. But who knows. Maybe it’s just a Gedovian thing,” she commented.

Barry smirked at her. Though she was mostly teasing him, he could tell she had picked up on something about the prince’s gazes towards him.

“As long as you don’t bail on dinner, I’m fine either way. If you ditch and I don’t get my interview, you’re going to owe me from now until the day you die.” Iris threatened playfully.

She locked her arm with Barry’s and once again started pulling him back towards the employee’s exit. “Now c’mon let’s go treat ourselves to a nice lunch before dad has his inevitable meltdown about us sneaking in, and we get grounded.”

“I don't think he can ground us anymore since we're twenty-six. But just in case he does, I’m putting all the blame on you,” Barry jeered, gently bumping into her.

Iris laughed and walked him out of the coffee shop. “C’mon let’s just get something to eat. After working up the nerve to talk to the prince, I’m starving.”

Though he was laughing and joking with Iris the whole time, his mind was occupied with the constant worry and wonder about stepping into the public eye with the prince and all the unwanted attention it was going to bring.

But, he wasn’t going to disappoint Iris, even if it meant being miserable for just a couple of hours.


	2. Chapter 2

“I can’t believe you two were stupid enough to sneak into an off-limits area!” Joe yelled, and he glared so angrily at both Iris and Barry that he figured it may actually burn a hole through them. 

“Dad, it was my fault. Barry didn’t have any—”

“You both knew that you weren’t allowed in there and you both chose to do it anyways! If it wasn’t for the fact that Chyre was there, I would’ve been bailing both of your asses out of jail for the stunt you just pulled,” Joe berated.

Barry quietly sat in the living room chair looking guilty and trying to hide his embarrassment at being scolded like he was a child again. He and Iris had luckily avoided Joe’s wrath yesterday after they crashed the prince’s lunch because he was working on a case all day. Now it was almost two hours before they were supposed to meet Prince Edward for dinner, and Joe had come home just as they were getting ready to leave.

He would’ve shrugged off Joe’s yelling, but it didn’t help that no matter which way he thought about it, Joe was right. His and Iris’ privilege of being a cop’s daughter and surrogate son had saved them from getting into a horrible situation.

“And now, you’re pictures are in the tabloids.” Joe held up a story from the Central City Enquirer reading _Stalkers Crash Royal Prince’s Lunch_. Barry was just thankful that was one of the more trashier news outlets that people didn't read as much. 

“Well at least they didn’t get a close up of us,” Barry joked nervously with an unsure smile. Barry immediately regretted the comment when he saw Joe’s face harden even more, and Barry’s small smile quickly vanished.

“But dad, we didn’t even stalk him. And we’re going to dinner with him in just a couple of hours,” Iris interjected.

Joe massaged his forehead, clearly getting more frustrated. “The point is that you’re both going to draw unnecessary attention to yourselves by making stupid decisions like that. And if that had been any other detective you two could've been in a hell of lot more trouble that not even I could bail you out of.”

“We get it, Joe,” Barry sighed. “We promise to be more careful in the future. But after we have this one dinner with the prince so Iris can do her interview, things will go back to normal.”

Iris moved to Barry’s side and wrapped her arm around him with a bright, cheery smile on her face to try and lighten the mood as well. “Barry’s right, dad. If we do this one interview then you don’t have to worry about it ever again!”

Joe groaned angrily, but after a few moments he finally settled down. “You’re lucky Chyre was there to prove that you were invited to dinner. Otherwise you two would be grounded from even leaving the house, and yes I still maintain the right to ground you two even if you’re both twenty-six.”

“So we can go?” Barry inquired.

“I can’t stop you, but I will haul your asses back into this house if you do something like that ever again,” Joe begrudgingly conceded.

Barry watched Iris spring over to Joe and wrap him up in a big hug. “Thanks, Dad!” she praised before turning back to Barry. “I’m going to change. You’re changing too.”

“But I already changed,” Barry exclaimed.

“You can’t just wear your same old button down and khakis, Barry. We’re going to dinner with foreign royalty. You have to kick it up a notch,” Iris explained, using a tone that he found almost patronizing.

Barry looked to Joe, who had looked much calmer than he had mere moments ago, and he just shrugged at him. “She’s got a point,” he added.

Barry rolled his eyes and abruptly stood up from his chair and made his way upstairs. “Fine, I’ll go change.”

He was glad he’d left more than half of his clothes at Joe’s house even after moving out into his own apartment. He still spent a fair amount of time here given he didn’t have a car to get back and forth from work, so at least half of the week was spent sleeping in his old bedroom or the couch here. When he looked in his closet he found a charcoal suit Joe had bought for him for his college graduation and he figured it would work.

“Barry, hurry up!” Iris yelled.

“Be down in a minute!” he shouted back slightly grouchily. He didn’t ask to go to this dinner. He got roped into to help Iris. But that didn’t stop him for wondering what all those looks the prince had been giving him were about. It had been on his mind ever since they’d left Jitters yesterday and he tried to keep it to himself, but it was hard with Iris giving him a weird look anytime she was around. 

He finished putting on the suit and grabbed a tie before heading downstairs. Iris was standing by the door in a bright red dress and wolf-whistled at him as he came down.

“See. I knew you could do better,” Iris teased.

“Ha-Ha. Funny. Just so you know, you’re paying for dinner.” Barry quipped.

“You two better get going. Last thing you two need is to show up late to dinner with the Prince and have an entire country mad at you.” Joe interjected.  

“I’m good to go, Iris?” Barry inquired.

“I’ve got my purse, recorder, and tablet so I’m ready.” She threw Barry the keys to her car, and he fumbled with them a little before catching them. “You’re driving.” Iris walked over Joe and gave him a kiss on the cheek before saying goodbye and walking outside.

Before Barry could leave, Joe cleared his throat and got his attention. “Try and keep yourselves out of trouble.”

“Will do, Joe,” Barry promised before heading out to the car. “We’ll see you later tonight!” Joe waved at them before closing the door.

Iris was already standing by the passenger side of the car, waiting for impatiently based on half-smirk, half-grimace she was wearing.

“Let me guess, he told us to behave?” she asked.

“You know it,” Barry answered before unlocking the car.

“So overprotective. It’s not like anything can go wrong. I mean we were invited this time,” Iris sighed.

“Let’s hope nothing goes wrong." He started the car and drove off towards downtown Central City, silently begging any universal force to let them have a nice, quiet evening, to keep them from making a huge scene and somehow embarrassing themselves again.

 

● ● ●

 

Clearly whatever universal force had heard Barry’s silent pleas decided not to answer because by the time he and Iris had found a place to park and made their way to the Steakhouse, lines of people and paparazzi were already surrounding the place. Barry could see the Prince’s protection detail surrounding the front door along with several CCPD officers.

“So much for a quiet dinner,” he grumbled.

“Lighten up, Barry. They’re out here, and we’ll be inside away from them. There’s nothing that could possibly go wrong,” Iris comforted.

The two made their way through the throng of people to the front of the door, but they couldn’t get into the restaurant before being stopped by two of the Prince’s bodyguards.

“Do you all have reservations here?” one of the men questioned rather aggressively. Both guards were taller and much bigger built than Barry and it didn’t help that both of them were practically looming to intimidate them.

Barry was about to open his mouth to answer when Iris jumped in ahead of him. “Iris West and Barry Allen. We’re supposed to be meeting the Prince for dinner.” she answered boldly, not backing down in the slightest from the two.

One of the men who was wearing a very large earpiece pressed a button on it, and turned his back to whisper something to whoever was on the receiving end. Barry had looked around and saw that they had attracted the attention of a few nosy paparazzi who were snapping photos of them.

The bodyguard turned back to face them and this time he seemed a bit gentler this time, his lips almost curled into a slight smile. “If I can just see some proof of I.D. Ms. West and Mr. Allen.” Iris and Barry did as they were asked and dug out their licenses and handed them to him. He examined them and handed them back to them. “Thank you both. Prince Eddie has been waiting for you both. He’s in a private booth in the back.” The men cleared a path for the both of them, and Iris giddily took Barry’s hand and pulled him into the restaurant.

“Oh my God that felt great!” she exclaimed, nearly bouncing with excitement.

“Yeah, that definitely felt like something,” Barry remarked, feeling bad that he wasn’t nearly as excited as she was. In fact, he felt the complete opposite, he wished that they’d never gotten the dinner invite to avoid all of this chaos.

The restaurant was relatively quiet, with several rather elegantly dressed people seated all across the dining room. Even the host was dressed up in a suit when he met them at the podium.

“Ms. West and Mr. Allen, Prince Edward has arranged for you to dine privately in our dining room in the back. If you’ll follow me,” he instructed.

Iris turned to Barry with a glowing smile adorned on her face. “Here we go, Barry! This is it. The interview and dinner of a lifetime!” she said, trying to whisper but barely containing it.

Barry sighed and begrudgingly followed behind her and the host to the back dining room where they saw Prince Edward sitting at a small table in the center of the private dining room. When he saw Barry and Iris arrive, his face lit up and Barry was immediately drawn once again to the radiant blue eyes that were almost glowing underneath chandelier lights above. He felt embarrassed at how much detail he noticed about the guy from his crisp black suit to his slightly messy blonde hair that worked perfectly for him. Maybe he could admit he might have a slight crush on the guy, but that was it.

“Iris, Barry, glad you could both make it!” Prince Edward welcomed cheerfully, standing and shaking both Iris and Barry’s hands before ushering them to take a seat. Iris sat beside the Prince while Barry sat across from him, and for a few moments Barry could feel the Prince’s gaze linger on him, causing him to nervously look at other things to distract him from looking up.

“Prince Edward, your highness, I just wanted to thank you so much for taking the time to invite us to dinner and for the interview.” Iris thanked adamantly. Barry wished he could hug her for stealing Prince Edward’s attention away from him, but for now the small sigh of relief was all he could manage.

“Please just Eddie is fine. I don’t want to act any better than you two with my title and all. And it’s not a problem at all. I’ve wanted the chance to interact with just regular, down-to-Earth people, and seeing as how you two were bold enough to break through a police barricade, I figured why not take a risk.” Eddie explained.

Eddie glanced over at Barry, and Barry felt a little guilty under his stare. “Yeah sorry about crashing your lunch yesterday. We didn’t mean to bother you,” Barry apologized, feeling a strange sense of obligation as the prince’s gaze continued to linger.

Eddie smiled widely and laughed a little. “It’s fine. It’s the most excitement I’ve had all week. I almost wish I had met you both earlier.”

The waiter came by and took their drink orders, Iris and Eddie ordering water while Barry decided to be bold ordered a glass of wine, hoping he could drink away the awkward feeling that was growing in his gut. He’d probably regret it later.

“Prince Eddie, there’s so much I want to ask you, so if you’re okay with it could I ask you a few questions for the Central City Picture News?” Iris inquired.

“Ask away,” Eddie answered equally as enthusiastic as Iris was.

For probably the next hour, Barry listened and watched as Iris questioned Eddie about various different things from his life as the royal prince of a small country to his favorite television show to watch in his free time. Eddie, on his part, was extremely open and honest which Barry hadn’t expected from someone who was royalty. He was friendly, open and completely honest, and even asked Iris questions about herself.

The most striking thing though was that his eyes would occasionally flit towards Barry before answering Iris’ questions. Barry on his part would just smile shyly before taking a huge gulp of his wine to distract himself.

“This is perfect! I have more than enough for my story! I owe you so much,” Iris thanked profusely.

Eddie finished a bite of the steak he’d ordered for dinner and beamed at her. “It’s not a problem. It’s been refreshing to have such an honest interview, so thank you.” Iris giggled, and Barry would’ve teased her about it if Eddie hadn’t looked over at him. “Thank you too for being so patient, Barry. I’m sure it’s been boring sitting here listening to me.”

“Uh, no it’s been fun. Can’t say I haven’t wondered what it’s like being a prince once or twice before,” Barry joked anxiously.

Eddie laughed softly to himself, and his gaze lingered on Barry too long again. Once again, Iris came to his rescue by cutting in with another question.

“So, Prince Eddie, one last question if you don’t mind?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” he answered.

“I know a handsome man such as yourself has to have someone special in your life. Is there a lucky lady or future princess in your life?”

“Umm no, not really,” the Prince answered slightly nervously. Iris question had quite obviously caught him off-guard given his faltering smile. But he turned to Barry again, and his smile returned just a little. “But I’m open to meeting someone. That’s part of the reason I left Gedova for a bit. I wanted to get out and meet people that weren’t just putting on an act or judging me because of who I am.”

Barry felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He knew the feeling of people putting on an act for him very well. Ever since his mother was killed and his dad had been framed, he knew what it felt like to have people judge him before they even knew him. Even after his dad had been exonerated, he couldn’t come back to Central City if only because of the judgment he would feel and what he’d be putting Barry through.

Before Barry even realized that he and Eddie had been blatantly staring at each other, Iris cleared her throat to get his attention. “I’m gonna go to the ladies room. I’ll be right back,” she announced.

Barry nodded at her, and watched get and leave before going back to eating the pasta he’d ordered to try and hide the discomfort of being left alone with the prince.

“So, Barry, what do you do for a living?” Eddie asked, gazing intently at him now.

“I—uh—work for the CCPD. I’m a forensic scientist,” Barry stammered.

“Forensic science. That sounds interesting. What do you do all day?”

“Oh nothing too much I just kinda help investigate crime scenes and run tests on evidence all day. Boring stuff compared to what you do all day I’m sure,” Barry explained.

“Actually that all sounds fun. I always had an interest in being a detective,” Eddie commented. “I bet my sister would love you. She’s big into technology and science too.”

“Your sister?” Barry said puzzled.

“I guess you haven’t read much about me have you?” Eddie inquired.

Barry shrugged anxiously and felt put on the spot. “I didn’t think I’d ever actually meet you so I never had the time to prepare. Sorry about that.”

Eddie quietly laughed again, and Barry just stared at him puzzled. “It’s fine. It’s actually refreshing to meet someone who hasn’t spent hours doing internet searches on my family just to pretend they know anything about me.”

“I think people are just afraid to offend you. You’re probably the biggest thing that’s happened to this city since—well ever,” Barry explained.

“I get that,” Eddie replied. He let out a deep sigh and even Barry could see something was slightly bothering the prince which he figured was odd since Iris always teased with how unobservant he was. “It’s just sometimes I’d rather people ask me questions and get to know me not—”

“Not just assume they know everything about you because of who you are or who you're related to?” Barry interjected. Memories of all the times people would whisper about him being the son of a suspected killer, thinking he couldn’t hear them flooded his mind. 

Eddie gaped at him, seemingly surprised by Barry’s sudden input. “Yeah. That’s exactly it.” Eddie and Barry both looked away from each other for a moment because whatever this weird feeling Barry was feeling inside unsettled him. It felt weird bonding with Eddie because of his status as foreign royalty.

Anyone else and he would’ve attempted to flirt with them or even ask them on a date if he had the guts to. But with Eddie he just felt awkward because he knew after this dinner they’d never see one another again.

“It sounds like you know how it feels too,” Eddie surmised. Eddie was fiddling with his fork, but Barry could see that the prince was looking up at him out of the corner of his eye.

“Yeah, a little. I know it sucks when people think they know everything there is to know about you before you even get a chance to talk,” Barry added.

Eddie smiled fondly at him, and the heavy mood had lifted a bit. “You’re the first person who’s truly gotten that. Guess we have more in common than we thought, huh?”

Barry grinned back, and for once there weren’t nerves this time, or they were well hidden this time. “I guess so.” It was at that moment that Iris had returned and took the table, looking back and forth between the two of them slightly before taking her seat again.

“I hope you two didn’t have too much fun without me,” she teased, throwing a suspicious glance in Barry’s direction.

“Umm no. Eddie—I mean Prince Eddie and I were just getting to know one another better,” Barry answered. He took another sip of his wine to try and avoid Iris’ analyzing leer.

“We were. I just learned that Barry and I have a few things in common is all. But I’m much more curious to hear more about your amazing work at the newspaper, Iris,” Eddie cut in. Barry could see Iris was too focused on the compliment the prince had given her to keep suspiciously gazing at him.

From there till the end of dinner, Iris and Eddie had discussed Iris’ job, her future career desire, and he answered more questions that she’d most likely come up with while she was gone. Barry stayed mostly silent, occasionally interjecting a few things about himself when Iris prompted him to. When he spoke though Eddie would gaze intently, like every word he said was sacred. When the waiter had brought them their checks, Eddie had taken them all before Barry and Iris could get their debit cards.

“Prince Eddie, you don’t need to pay for us,” Iris claimed.

“Please, this dinner is my treat. I've had such a wonderful evening talking to you both. Plus this is probably the first meal I’ve actually paid for since I got here, so I think this is fair at least,” Eddie assured. He handed the waiter his credit card before turning back to them.

“So when are you heading back to Gedova?” Iris inquired.

“Tomorrow actually. I was only scheduled to spend a week here, but I’ve enjoyed myself so much tonight, I almost don’t want to go back.”

“Well we wish you could stay longer at least to see your story in the newspaper. But with all the information you gave me tonight, I swear the story will be amazing,” Iris promised brightly.

“I already know it’ll be fantastic,” Eddie added. The waiter returned with his card and left after wishing them all a good night. Eddie looked down at his watch and looked back at them. “I guess I should probably get back to the hotel and get some sleep so I can actually catch my flight tomorrow,” he joked.

“Absolutely. Barry we need to head back anyways, right?” Iris asked.

“Oh—yeah. I have to get ready for work and stuff,” Barry lied, wishing he’d sounded more convincing since he’d taken the next few days off of work as a mini vacation.

All three of them got up from the table and exited the restaurant. The few paparazzi that were still there were being held back by the bodyguards and CCPD, and Barry had to look down to avoid staring directly into the flash of the cameras. This was one of those moments that he didn’t envy Eddie being a prince.

The sleek, black Mercedes that Eddie had been driven in had been parked relatively close to where Barry and Iris and had parked, and Barry just stared in awe at the beautiful car.

“Holy crap that car is so awesome,” Barry blurted out in awe, immediately regretting letting that slip out.

Eddie laughed as his chauffeur opened his side of the door. “It’s just a rental, but thanks for letting me know I have decent taste in cars even if my sister Felicity says otherwise.”

Eddie moved closer to the both of them and offered his hand out to Iris to shake again. “Prince Eddie, thank you so much for dinner and the interview! I wish there was some way to repay you for everything you’ve done,” Iris exclaimed as she shook his hand one last time.

“As long as you write a good article, that’ll be all the thanks I need,” Eddie said. “But I have no doubt that you will.” Iris was smiling shyly and laughing a little, and Barry couldn’t help but be impressed by how smooth and charming Eddie could be especially if he could win Iris over like that.

“Barry,” Eddie called out, startling him a little as he turned to the prince.

“Oh—yeah. Sorry wasn’t paying attention,” he replied.

“It’s fine. I just wanted to say thanks for the talk earlier. It was really nice, and it made me feel a lot better about things,” Eddie remarked, his voice slightly softer and gentler when talking to him.

“No problem, at all. I didn’t know I helped at all, but I’m glad I did,” Barry replied. Barry glanced over at Iris who was giving him that quizzical stare again, and yeah she was definitely catching on now, and he couldn’t hide it anymore.

When Barry looked back at Eddie he was still smiling fondly at him, but when his chauffeur urged him to hurry back, Eddie took a step back towards the car. “Thank you both for the dinner. If I ever come back, I’ll be sure to find you both,” he assured before getting in the car and closing the door.

As his chauffeur pulled out, Eddie gave them one final goodbye wave, and both Barry and Iris waved back. Once the car was out of sight, Iris almost immediately turned to Barry and he felt himself shrink under her suspicious eyes.

“So what did I miss between you and prince charming,” she questioned.

“N-nothing. We just talked for a bit when you went to the bathroom. That’s all,” Barry answered, trying his hardest to look surprised and caught off-guard by her question.

“Alright, Barry, I let it slide at Jitters yesterday, but that the look he gave you just now, you would’ve thought you two just got married,” Iris argued.

The debate going through Barry’s head now would be to keep denying it to Iris, or to just come clean and admit that he might had a crush on the prince that got worse over dinner.

“I knew it!” she proclaimed.

“Knew what?” Barry inquired nervously.

“You do have a crush on him, don’t you? You can’t hide anything from me, Barry Allen,” she jested, a giddy grin spread across her face.

Barry hushed her, seeing the paparazzi starting to take notice of them now that Eddie was gone. “Okay, fine. I may have a small crush on him, but it’s over, and he’s gone. Can we just go now before the paparazzi start hounding us?” he begged.

“Fine. Let’s go, but when we get home, you’re telling me everything,” she bargained.

Barry just rolled his eyes but nodded in compliance before they quickly made their way to the car. Iris took the keys from Barry and took his spot in the driver’s seat before starting the car and driving them back home.

“I can’t believe this. I got an interview the Prince of Gedova, and Barry finally has a crush on someone that isn't Becky Cooper,” Iris teased excitedly.

"Okay, Becky Cooper wasn't that bad," he grumbled. Barry stared out at the window, failing miserably at staving off thoughts of Eddie as Iris teased him.

"You're right. She was worse, Bar," Iris jeered, and Barry playfully pushed her causing the two of them to laugh.

Though the night was still young, he closed his eyes for a bit and let the drowsiness take over. He figured maybe passing out for a bit could help stave off the thoughts of Eddie still lingering on his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad everyone's been enjoying this! Surprisingly, as I've been editing it and reading it back, it's inspired me to finish it so I to have it all done soon. Thanks for reading as usual!

He felt beads of sweat start to slowly fall across his forehead as he ran through the park. His mini vacation had started out pretty well, consisting thus far of nothing but two days of sleeping in and eating junk food while watching old sci-fi movies on the couch.

He hadn’t thought about Eddie much at all yesterday, though he did check the news to see if anyone had covered the story of his departure from Central City, but he didn’t find anything. Iris though had been ecstatic about getting the story, and according to both her and Joe, she’d been receiving tons of praise from her boss about being able to get an interview with him. Her story was supposed to be published in the next edition of the newspaper on the front page.

Despite his lazy day yesterday, he felt obligated to get out of the apartment and do something, so he figured a morning jog around the park would work well enough. The sun was out and shining, and the park oddly enough wasn’t too busy yet which worked well for him since he hadn’t run in a while and felt a little out of shape.

He had run about three laps around the entire park and he felt like if he took one more step he was going to die, so he found a tree over by the pond and leaned against it trying to catch his breath. Something felt off as he was hunched over to breathe like someone was nearby watching him, so he looked up behind him.

“Holy sh—” he yelped before falling down on the ground. He looked up and saw the familiar blonde hair and stubble belonging to Eddie. He had to do a double take to make sure it was him since he was wearing athletic shorts and a t-shirt, and not the usual three piece suit Barry had only seen him in. “P… Prince Eddie,” Barry huffed, still struggling to get his breathing under control.

“Sorry, Barry. Didn’t mean to startle you,” Eddie apologized as he made his way over to Barry and helped him to his feet.

Barry gave a couple of quick once-overs to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, but each time the results were the same. The Gedovian prince was currently standing in front of him, dressed just as casually as he was. “I thought you were leaving to go back to Gedova a few days ago,” Barry said puzzled.

“That was the plan, but after our dinner the other night I changed my mind,” Eddie replied. Barry just shot him a weird glance, but Eddie just chuckled again. “Being around you and Iris made me want to experience American life the normal way, not the way that royals do. So I decided to stay behind for another week, but this time without all the bodyguards,” he explained.

“Isn’t that kind of dangerous? I mean you’re worth hundreds of millions of dollars, if something happens to you, it would be like—a total disaster.”

“Barry, the majority of people in this city most likely have no clue where Gedova is, and the few who do probably wouldn’t have a clue who I was if I sat talking to them face to face. I think I’ll be okay.” Barry still felt unsure, but Eddie just grinned and pointed back to two guys sitting on park benches nearby where they were talking. “But just to be safe, I have a few people keeping an eye on me.”

“That makes more sense,” Barry muttered as he looked over Eddie’s shoulder at the men seated and cautiously looking at them.

“They know about you and Iris, so they won’t accost you two for talking to me or anything,” Eddie assured. Eddie made a walk back to the concrete pathway that Barry had been running on earlier, and he motioned for Barry to follow him. “If you’re not busy, mind keeping me company?”

 _Damn it._ Barry was finally starting to push the crush he’d developed for the prince out his system all together, but now here he was for a whole extra week. He was going to have to come up with some way to avoid getting attached to Eddie.

“Umm sure. Just no running please. If I do another lap, I may pass out and die,” Barry joked.

“No running. I promise. Just a short walk around.” Barry nodded in agreeance and followed Eddie before they walked together side by side. For a few moments it was just silence between the two, but it was uncomfortable, at least to Barry. It felt oddly nice to have him nearby even though the two barely knew one another.

“So what’re you planning to do in Central City for the week?” Barry asked.

“Well that’s to be decided. I spent all day yesterday looking up things to do here, and for the most part my search came up pretty empty. That’s probably why it’s extremely lucky I ran into you,” Eddie explained.

“Well if you need any advice on what to do here I’m your guy. Born and raised here,” Barry said. Weirdly enough though, he couldn’t really think of anything that someone of Eddie’s stature would enjoy doing. Central City for the most part was quiet and boring. “So what does your family think of you staying here another week?” he said to change the subject while he thought of things for the prince to do.

“Well they don’t really care too much. They’re used to my sister coming here for extended periods of time, so it’s no different with me.”

“Why was your sister here so often?”

“She went to college here actually. And now she’s engaged to the son of an American business owner,” Eddie answered.

“Really what school did she go to? I feel like that would’ve been all over the news,” Barry asked.

“MIT. She got her masters in cyber security and computer sciences. That’s how she met her fiancé, Oliver Queen.”

“No way! She’s dating Oliver Queen?”

Eddie laughed. “Yeah. My family wasn’t exactly happy to hear that given the Queen’s reputation. But Oliver won them over eventually.”

“What about you. Did you go to school anywhere?” Barry asked.

“In Gedova, but I stopped after my bachelor’s. I wasn’t like Felicity though. She’s always dreamed of doing some major work in computer science while I grew up always wanting to be a detective or police officer. That’s why I think you two would get along well.”

“I guess I’m like the perfect combination of you both; a scientist working for the police department. Can’t get much better than that,” Barry teased.

Eddie smiled fondly again, and Barry could tell he was starting to blush given the butterflies growing in his stomach. “Is that what you always wanted to do?” Eddie inquired.

“Yes and No. I knew ever since I was a kid I loved science and wanted to work in the science field, but after my mom died, I never felt much like leaving Central City and finding other things to do. But thanks to Joe, I was able to at least find a job doing chemistry and science here, and I love it.”

“I get that,” Eddie replied. Before he could talk further, Barry’s phone started vibrating, and he pulled it out to see Joe calling from his work phone.

“Sorry, it’ll just take a sec,” Barry apologized. Eddie smiled and nodded understandingly and Barry answered it.

“Hey, Joe,” Barry greeted.

“Hey Bar. I know you’re on vacation, but Singh needs you to come back to the precinct ASAP. We need some emergency tests run on some blood samples that we took from a crime scene,” Joe explained immediately.

“Can’t the other guy do it?” Barry whined.

“Normally, yes. But this is evidence that could put the Santini crime family away for good, so Singh doesn’t want any errors, and, surprisingly, you’re the only one he trusts, even if you can’t get to work on time.”

Barry sighed. The only consolation is that he was about a thirty minute walk away from the precinct since he was in the park already. “I’ll be there in thirty.”

“We owe you, Barry,” Joe reminded before hanging up.

Barry groaned and turned slowly to Eddie. “Sorry, Prince Eddie. I have to go back to work, and it’s gonna be a long walk from here.”

“Don’t worry about it. In fact, I just had an idea. We can just drive you there,” Eddie offered.

“I can’t make you do that for me. I mean I smell terrible, and if you’re still driving that black Mercedes I’m definitely in no condition to be riding in that.”

Eddie laughed a little. “You’re not making me do anything, Barry. Besides I’m somewhat curious about what you do. I’d love to watch you if you don’t mind?”

Barry chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. “Uhh—sure if you want. Hopefully it won’t bore you.”

“Trust me, Barry, I don’t think you’ll bore me. Now c’mon, we’ll take you to the police department,” Eddie urged.

“Alright, thanks.” Barry followed Eddie back towards the two men who were his undercover bodyguards and they were escorted back to Eddie’s car which had been downgraded to a normal looking SUV. “You got rid of the Mercedes?”

“It’s too flashy to drive around. I needed something more low profile,” Eddie explained.

One of the men opened the door for both Eddie and Barry and it felt weird, but he ignored after seeing how calm Eddie was about it. There was a lot he was trying to ignore though, namely the beads of sweat that were falling down Eddie’s neck and down onto his chest that were giving him all sorts of lewd visions.

Yeah, his crush was back in full force and quite possibly stronger than before.

Thankfully, one of the men started the car, and the GPS started directing them towards the CCPD, distracting him temporarily.

“Thanks for letting me tag along, Barry,” Eddie thanked out of nowhere.

“It’s no problem, Prince Eddie.”

Eddie put his hand on Barry’s shoulder and griped it a little, and the touch felt electric, and Barry had to suppress a startled noise. “Just Eddie, Barry. I don’t want anyone to know who I am if they don’t have to know.”

Eddie’s hand on his shoulder lingered, and Barry swallowed and nodded. “Right. Just Eddie.”

Even though he said that, he realized that this whole being around the prince deal was going to be a lot harder than he initially thought it would be, especially if Eddie was always going to be eliciting these reactions from him just from a simple touch.

 

● ● ●

 

Barry had gone into the CCPD building with Eddie closely following him, and he could see Eddie was taken completely with everything. Just from his lingering gazes on everything in the precinct he could see the true fascination he had for law enforcement, and all lingering in his blue eyes.  

“This is amazing,” Eddie whispered in awe.

“The charm wears off after a while,” Barry joked, eliciting a snort of laughter from the prince.

When they had reached the lobby on Joe’s floor, his foster father was there to greet him, but his gaze quickly dropped when he saw Eddie standing right behind him.

“Your Royal Highness, I didn’t expect to see you still here. I thought you had left a few days ago,” Joe greeted, using his formal tone of voice.

“Please you don’t have to address me formally. Eddie is fine. And I made the decision to stay for another week. I’m just here with Barry right now,” Eddie explained.

“Really?” Joe said. Barry felt his stomach drop when he saw Joe’s expression harden again. “Your highness, do you mind if I have a word with Barry?” Joe asked.

“Absolutely. I’m content just looking around. And please, just Eddie.”

Joe motioned for Barry to follow him, and Barry begrudgingly followed him back towards where Joe’s desk was. “Mind telling me, what the hell the Gedovian Prince is doing following you into the CCPD?” Joe whispered sternly

“I was running the in the park, and he just happened to be there when you called me. I didn’t plan on him following me here,” Barry said.

“Do you know how much attention you’re going to draw to yourself if people see you around with him?”

“I didn’t go out of my way to find him, he just showed up. But he said no one notices him without all the bodyguards and CCPD around him, so we’re good,” Barry assured him.

“I’m not a big fan of you dragging a foreign prince around with you, Barry. But, it’s his and your choice. Just don’t make this any harder than it already is,” Joe cautioned.

“I know,” Barry sighed. “So where’s the blood sample you need run?”

“It’s up in your lab already. All Singh needs you to do is run the sample and give him the report, and you’re free to go and we won’t need to call you anymore to come back in,” Joe promised.

“Alright, I’ll get it done.” Barry left and returned to the lobby where he saw Eddie talking Detective Chyre, and he looked thoroughly invested in whatever it was Chyre was saying.

“Ahh, Allen, I didn’t know you and the prince had become friends,” Chyre commented.

“Uhh yeah, we’re just starting to hit it off,” Barry remarked offhandedly. “Eddie, I’m going up to my lab if you want to come or stay here and talk.”

“I’ll come with you. I’m curious to see your work in action,” Eddie said. Barry nodded and he led Eddie up the stairs to where his lab was, and when he walked in he felt mortified by how dirty it was.

“Sorry about the mess,” he apologized.

Eddie didn’t say anything because he once again had found himself enamored with all the chemicals that Barry had lined up on the shelves and the tools, papers, and other miscellaneous things strewn all over his desks.

Barry saw the sealed packet of evidence sitting on his desk and he picked it up. He moved over to his main desk where he normally sat while analyzing evidence and using a disposable razor he opened it up and found a white button-down shirt coated in splotches of what appeared to be blood.

“Well it shouldn’t take long to analyze this. Just make yourself comfortable wherever,” Barry offered. He found his gloves and googles and went to work, grabbing the chemicals on the table and beginning his normal routine of typing the blood and analyzing it to figure out just how it got there and whose blood it was.

The process while tedious wasn’t hard, and every so often he’d look up to see what Eddie was doing, but every time Eddie was just sitting on one of his stools, intently watching him work. Barry on the other hand felt some weird urge to impress Eddie. Maybe it was because he was here in his space, but he had the urge to show Eddie that he was at least good at his job.

Barry heard the stool scoot across the floor and he looked up to see Eddie walking towards him. “Is it okay if I get a closer look?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah it’s fine,” Barry quietly approved. Eddie was now standing across from him watching him swab some of the blood stain before placing in a machine on his other desk that was plugged into his computer.

“DNA analysis I’m guessing?” Eddie inquired following behind Barry.

Barry grinned. “Yep. Once I run this blood through the machine, it’ll read his DNA sequence based on how much of thirteen different DNA markers are present in the DNA sample. After we do that we can then run this sample against the victim’s blood that was sent in earlier and see if it’s a match. If it doesn’t match then we’ll totally have found one the murderers’ blood.”

It took a moment for him to realize he’d gone on another science tangent, and looked back to see if Eddie was just staring at him blankly like most people did. Eddie, again surprised him by seeming interested and attentive to him, not at all looking disinterested like anyone else would.

“That’s amazing that you know all of this, Barry,” he praised.

“Thanks, I—uh really appreciate that,” he stammered nervously. Eddie’s compliments and fascination with his job was making this whole crush thing worse. The fact that Eddie was looming over him now wasn’t helping either. Barry turned back to his computer to avoid getting caught up in staring into Eddie’s deep blue eyes again, and saw the computer starting to chart the location of the DNA sequence on the blood.

Eddie was now dangerously close to Barry, and he could feel Eddie’s breath on his neck somewhat as they both continued to watch the screen. Only a small part of him wanted to protest him being so close, but the larger majority wanted him to just make a move and kiss Eddie already, but he knew that would never work out.

“I can’t believe you get to do this for a living. I’ve always wanted to be a part of something like this. To be a detective, working with scientists like you to solve a crime,” Eddie commented. His hands found a resting place on Barry’s shoulders and Barry let out an embarrassing sigh at the touch.

“That’s probably the first time I’ve ever heard that. Back in school, people used to laugh at me when I said this is what I wanted to do,” Barry replied.

“Well that’s stupid,” Eddie exclaimed with an uncharacteristic bite in his tone. Barry turned to see Eddie frowning for the first time since he’d met the guy. “Helping solve crimes, analyzing DNA, it’s nothing short of amazing.” Barry was stunned and silent as he watched Eddie’s fond smile return to his face. “You’re amazing, Barry,” he finished.

The mere inches of space between the two of them was charged with tension and Barry felt a pull towards Eddie, almost wanting to lean in and kiss him and forget that he was a prince for a moment. Eddie’s eyes radiated blue and he could see that same fond, caring look in his face, and Barry realized it wasn’t just him. Eddie clearly had wanted him too.

He heard someone clear their throat and he immediately backed away and looked over to see Joe and captain Singh standing in the entrance to his lab.

“Hope we’re not interrupting anything, Allen,” Singh commented, sounding only slightly mortified at what he’d just seen.

“Uhh—umm, no sir. Just finishing the test you wanted me to run on the DNA sample,” Barry answered anxiously. He scrambled to get up from the chair, nearly falling over in the process and scurried over to the printer to grab the printed results, trying to hide his burning red face.

“Here it is,” he called out, grabbing the papers from the printer and studying them quickly before handing them over to Joe and Singh. When he finished looking over them he walked over to hand them to Joe, who looked at them intently, an embarrassed look still lingering in his expression. “The blood on the shirt doesn’t have the same DNA as the victim, so chances are it’s the killers. And if it’s one of the Santini family, then all you have to do is match it to a DNA sample in the database.”

“Uh, good work, Allen,” Singh praised. “We’ll take this back downstairs and leave you two alone.” They both turned to quickly escape his lab, but Joe shot him a quick ‘we’ll be talking about this later look’ that instilled more embarrassment in him. “Oh, and your free tickets for the fair are on your desk.”

“Free tickets?” Barry mumbled quietly. Realization hit him and he looked over on the desk in the middle of his lab and found the envelope holding his two free tickets to the Central City Fair that came around once a year.

“So you all have a fair coming up soon?” Eddie questioned as he sauntered over to Barry, no hint of shame written anywhere on his face.

“Yeah—tomorrow actually. It’s the annual fair they hold every year near the waterfront.” Normally, Iris would go with him, but she’s going to some charity event to cover it for the news on the same night so he figured it was either invite or Eddie or let the tickets go to waste. “Do you want to come with me?”

“Sure,” Eddie answered almost immediately. The immediate answer actually made the prince look away for a minute, and Barry could see a hint of bashfulness in him. “Sorry for the eager answer, I—uh—I’m just excited to try something new is all.”

“It’s fine,” Barry said with a small laugh at the end. “How does tomorrow at seven sound? We can get dinner there and everything. They have these killer chili cheese dogs that Iris and I get every year. And the cotton candy and milkshakes there are the best.”

“That all sounds good, Barry.” Eddie found a sheet of paper on the desk that had been scribbled on and he started writing on it before handing it to him. “Here. My cell phone number and the address of the hotel I’m staying in.”

Barry just stared at it for a moment. He now had a royal prince’s cell phone number, and conveniently got it after nearly making out with him on the job. This day officially become the most bizarre day he’d had in a very long time.

“Thanks. I guess I’ll pick you up around six forty-five?”

Eddie smiled glowingly at him again. “Sounds good. Did you need a ride home?”

“Uh no, I’m good. Joe’s my foster father so he’ll just give me a ride home.”

Eddie nodded. “Alright then. I’ll see you tomorrow at six forty-five then, Barry.” It shouldn’t have made his heart flutter whenever Eddie said his name, but here he was standing still watching Eddie wave goodbye to him and leave his lab. His eyes though were glued to his ass, and he was utterly embarrassed that he was infatuated with the man as much as he was in just a few days of knowing him.

When Eddie was gone from the lab, Barry collapsed into one of the chairs by his desk and put his head down on the table with a groan. “Why me?” he whined.

At some point he’d have to go downstairs and face Joe and his onslaught of questions, and eventually Iris would find out which would mean round two of questions. At least for the next hour he could hide up here and avoid the embarrassment.

But at least he had a date with a prince, who apparently had a thing for him. So today wasn’t a total embarrassment.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate all the feedback on this! I'm glad people still enjoy Thallen!

Surprisingly the conversation with Joe hadn’t been as bad as he’d expected, though it was still enough to effectively embarrass him for a few days now.

Joe had been adamant about him not drawing any attention to himself and to not let Eddie take advantage of him just because he was a prince. It felt unnecessary, but Barry knew it was simply because Joe cared. It worked out in his favor too since Joe had agreed to let him borrow his car to take Eddie to the fair.

Iris though had remained in the dark about him leaving to pick the prince up for their date, and he was hoping to keep it that way. The moment he made a move towards the door she had accosted him.

“So when were you going to tell me that you were taking the prince out on a date to the fair?” she asked as he snuck downstairs to leave.

Barry stopped, and turned around to see Iris leaning against the wall of the hallway, decked out in one of her favorite form fitting dresses in preparation for the charity event she was attending, a knowing grin plastered on her face.

“I was going to tell you!” Barry exclaimed nervously, knowing he’d been caught. “I just wasn’t—sure when yet.”

Iris smiled and laughed a little before walking up to Barry and rubbing his shoulder tenderly. “Bar, I am so happy for you, and you know I’m gonna support you one hundred percent.”

Barry gave her an uneasy smile. “I know. I just don’t know where things Eddie and I are heading and I didn’t want to say something too early. I mean he’s a prince, and I’m just well me.”

“Hey, he obviously sees something in you. I mean, Barry, the way he looked at you when we went to dinner, he looked like he’d already fallen in love. Just relax and it’ll work out,” she consoled.

He smiled a little brighter and pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms tight around her. “Thanks, Iris.”

“No problem. Now go get your man, and I expect full details when you get back.” Barry smiled before he opened the door and walked out to Joe’s car, eager to see what the night with Eddie held in store for him, and maybe see if there was even the possibility of a future together.

 

● ● ●

 

Everything about tonight had been surreal, and that was starting to become the word to describe his entire life. If anyone had told him he’d be spending his last day of vacation at the fair with Prince Eddie, sharing chili cheese dogs and strawberry milkshakes with him, he would’ve laughed at them, namely because good things like that never happen to him. In fact, had anyone said that this was where he’d end up after crashing the prince’s private lunch he would’ve laughed even harder.

But here they were, together. Eddie had promptly been waiting for him downstairs in the ritzy five star hotel he’d been staying in, and the entire night thus far had been filled with those same tense electric moments where he felt something could easily spark and ignite between them.

They rode a few rides, and Barry had managed to win Eddie a stuffed animal of the Central City mascot which he surprisingly seemed to love. They had exhausted themselves out which was how they ended up sitting down at the picnic tables, finishing their chili cheese dogs and drinking their milkshakes.

“This has been a lot of fun. We should have these in Gedova,” Eddie remarked after taking another sip of his strawberry milkshake.

“You don’t have fairs in Gedova?” Barry asked jokingly.

“Well we have the circus occasionally, but I’m not a huge fan of clowns so it’s not really my thing. But this I can get behind. Rides, junk food, and no clowns,” Eddie teased.

Barry laughed. “I’ll give you that. Clowns suck.”

A comfortable silence passed between the two, as couples, families, and groups of teens all walked to and fro, enjoying everything the fair had to offer.

“So, Barry, are you dating anyone? Eddie asked, breaking the silence.

Barry’s eyes darted around nervously for a moment, not anticipating the question. “Umm, no not really. I’ve been flying solo for a while,” he answered.

“That’s a shame. I figured a smart, good-looking guy like yourself would’ve been taken already.”

Barry snickered and looked down at the leftovers of his chili-cheese dog, trying to hide the flustered look on his face. “Thanks, but I think you’re one of the few people who thinks that.” There was another moment of quiet, but once again Eddie had broken it when he pointed to the Ferris wheel behind him.

“We should ride the Ferris wheel. I haven’t been on one in years,” he suggested.

“Uhh… sure. If you want to,” Barry said with a shrug. Barry took Eddie’s empty hot dog holder and threw it away while Eddie had held onto both of their milkshakes. Together they both walked side by side towards the Ferris wheel which surprisingly didn’t have a long line. “It must be pretty nice, not having people crowd around you with cameras anymore,” he said.

“I definitely can’t complain about it. Back in Gedova anytime I stepped outside someone was there to take photos of me. Now it’s like I’m a complete stranger, and I love it,” Eddie explained.

Barry smiled. “It’s weird, but I know exactly how you feel.”

When he finally went to college and found himself surrounded by people that hadn’t heard about him being the son of Henry Allen, the man who had supposedly murdered his wife, it almost felt like being reborn a new person.

And it was the moments like this that made him wonder just how he and a foreign prince could have so much in common, yet be so different.

“Barry, I think it’s our turn,” Eddie announced.

“Oh yeah. Sorry.” Barry followed Eddie who was already at the front of the line being helped into the passenger car, and sat beside him, awkwardly trying to leave as much space between him and Eddie as he could.

“You don’t have to move over to make more room for me, you know,” Eddie remarked, nodding down at the empty space in between him and Barry.

“Right… sorry,” Barry apologized, scooching over closer to him.

It wasn’t that he felt uncomfortable being this close to Eddie, it was just that he was still trying to figure what was going on between them. It was taking him a lot longer to figure out how someone handles having a crush on a real life prince, and that prince possibly feeling the same.

The ride started up and Barry and Eddie slowly lifted off the ground as the Ferris wheel started rotating. Eddie for his part seemed calm and relaxed, staring out of the car and down below and all the people, tents, and lights. He felt a little guilty that he was staring at him while Eddie wasn’t paying attention, but the view of Eddie, hair slightly messy from the cool fall breeze was a truly magical sight to behold.

“You know, I can’t think of a better way to spend one of my last few days here in the U.S.,” Eddie said, still gazing out as they continued to ascend.

“Yeah, it’s been fun. I’m glad you could come, your highness,” Barry added on, a teasing tone as he referred to him with his title.

“Ha-ha funny,” Eddie joked back. Barry glanced over to see that Eddie was now turned completely facing him, and Barry nervous smiled, but tried to hide his gaze from him. “You know, I’m glad you and Iris were the two I met at the coffee shop, and I’m glad you’re the one here with me now.”

It was now Eddie whose smile was so shy and bashful now, and Barry couldn’t help but smirk that the prince was seemingly nervous about this too. The Ferris wheel made its customary stop before it started reversing, and Barry, being caught off-guard, went sliding into Eddie as their car rocked back and forth. Eddie caught him and Barry went still in his arms, feeling too shocked and mortified to move.

Eddie’s arms were firmly wrapped around him, and Barry felt comfortable in his embrace. He looked up to see Eddie on the verge of laughing, and he couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “I feel like I’m always apologizing to you,” Barry remarked.

“It’s perfectly fine. Besides this is… kind of nice,” Eddie replied. Their eyes locked again, after Eddie said that they didn’t speak for a few moments. Barry’s eyes languidly studying the floored look on Eddie’s face, before settling on his lips.

“Everything alright?” Barry inquired.

“Uh—yeah everything’s fine. Well, except… I. Oh to hell with it,” Eddie exclaimed before he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Barry’s in what Barry would remember as the most unsuspecting, yet welcome, kiss in his entire lifetime.

Eddie’s stubble was only slightly itchy as the taste of strawberry ice cream on his soft, chilled lips more than distracted him. He could only kiss back slightly as he reveled in feeling Eddie’s strong hands cup his jaw and cheek. He felt weak in Eddie’s embrace and simply let Eddie’s lips glide over his own.

When Eddie pulled back, Barry could hear Eddie’s shallow breaths over his own, and the blank expression on his face.

“I—I’m sorry, Barry. I didn’t… I shouldn’t have done that,” Eddie apologized, stammering clearly in utter and complete embarrassment.

His own heartbeat was going crazy, and his brain hadn’t quite caught up to the fact that Eddie, Prince Edward Thawne of Gedova, had just kissed him, and kissed him like he meant it.

“Please tell me you like me and you want to do that again?” Barry blurted out, his brain clearly not functioning at full capacity yet.

Eddie stared back at him incredulously before his face lit up into a bright smile and he laughed. “Barry Allen, you’re the only person I’ve wanted to kiss since I saw you staring at me when we first met.”

“I wasn’t staring,” Barry interjected.

Eddie laughed breathily. “Yes you were,” he teased. He leaned closer to Barry, and Barry could feel his breath caressing his face. “But to be fair, so was I.” And without another word Eddie kissed him again, but Barry had been prepared and had gently grasped the back of Eddie’s neck.

Everything felt right. Eddie’s kiss was tender but his hands had a firm grip on his arms. When Eddie finally pulled his lips apart, their car had stopped back on the ground for them to get off, but he sat for just a few moments, speechless.

Eddie just smiled lazily, looking almost deliriously happy while Barry was struggling to find the right words to express how he felt.

“That was… that was—”

“Amazing?” Eddie interjected.

“Yeah. It was amazing,” Barry repeated with a small grin.

The attendant made some sort of disapproving noise in an attempt to get them out of the car, but when he looked at Eddie he had a look of recognition spread across his face. Both Barry and Eddie looked at him before getting off the ride and making beeline out of the Ferris wheel line before he could point Eddie out.

The two escaped towards the entrance of the fair, stopping by the sign to catch their breaths.

“Holy crap, that was close,” Barry commented.

“Yeah. I was afraid he was gonna blurt out who I was, and then have a crowd of people ruining the best date I’ve ever had,” Eddie explained.

Barry grinned mischievously. “So this is the best date you’ve had?”

Eddie nodded. “Best one ever.”

Barry was the one who inched closer to Eddie now, finding some newfound confidence within himself to get closer to Eddie and not even think about his status. “Good to know.” Barry was the one who kissed Eddie this time, both hands tangled in the collar of Eddie’s jacket as his cold lips pressed against Eddie’s.

The buzz of someone’s cell phone interrupted them and Eddie reached into his pants pocket to see his phone going off. Eddie read the message and his face dropped.

“Everything okay?” Barry asked.

“Yeah. Everything’s fine. It’s just, my parents want to talk on video chat, and it seems pretty important so I think I’m we’re going to have to cut our date short.”

“I understand. King’s and Queen’s come before peasants,” Barry joked.

“You’re not a peasant, Barry,” Eddie rebuffed almost immediately. Eddie quickly realized how gruff he’d come across and let out a deep breath. “Sorry about that. I just hate when people feel inferior to me because of who I am.”

“It’s fine. I was just joking.”

“Yeah, I know,” Eddie sighed. “I think I should get back to the hotel, if you don’t mind.”

“Not a problem,” Barry agreed. They walked in silence back to the car, and Barry felt like something had gone wrong with Eddie’s sudden outburst about his joke. When they finally got inside the car and started back to the hotel, Eddie buckled his seatbelt before turning to Barry, looking apologetic.

“I just want you to know that I meant what I said about tonight,” he started.

“About this being the best date ever?” Barry asked.

“Yeah. Barry, tonight was perfect, and I’m glad I spent it with you.” Barry laughed, and only wished he wasn’t focusing on the road, so he could look and drink in the beauty that was Eddie Thawne.

The hotel was only a short drive from the fair, and within fifteen minutes they were back at the ritzy hotel Eddie had been living out of for the last two weeks. Barry felt almost obligated to get out of the car when Eddie had gotten up to leave, and it was worth it to see Eddie smiling brightly again.

“I have some errands to run tomorrow, but since I leave Saturday, I was hoping you’d want to have dinner with me here at the hotel on Friday?” he offered.

“Dinner in the suite of a five star hotel? Sounds a little too good to be true. What’s the catch?” Barry teased.

“No catch. Just you, me, and whatever three course meal they end up serving us,” Eddie answered.

Another date with just the two of them alone in Eddie’s room sounded like the dream that Barry never realized he’d had until just now. In less than two weeks, he’d officially become head over heels with the Gedovian prince, and now that they’d kissed multiple times, he almost didn’t care who knew.

“Yeah, sounds great. I’ll be there,” he agreed.

Eddie caught him by surprise again and pulled on Barry’s coat, bringing Barry stumbling forward into him and their lips meeting again in a short, wet kiss that left Barry’s legs on the verge of collapsing.

“Great. I can’t wait. I’ll text you with the time,” Eddie said as he pulled back from Barry’s kiss swollen lips. Eddie started his way into the hotel, and waved back at him. “Good night, Barry.”

Barry, still delirious and confused, waved back weakly and mouthed bye back to him, a lazy grin still plastered on his face. Two things were for sure. Eddie Thawne, prince of Gedova was a fantastic kisser and an even better date to the Central City Fair, and that he was going to owe Iris for once again being right about his painfully obvious crush on him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I lost my flash drive with some of the edits I had made this story, and was working on another story too, but here's the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy!

“So, how was it? And don’t leave out any details!” Iris demanded, completely ignoring the cup of coffee she claimed she’d been craving.

Iris had insisted on getting breakfast so Barry could tell her everything about his date with Eddie. And despite still not having a clear grasp on what was going on with Eddie, Iris was probably the only person he could trust to help him make sense of it.

“It was good. We went to the fair, got chili-cheese dogs and milkshakes, and rode a couple of rides, and—uh—kinda made out a couple of times,” Barry said, lowering his voice towards the end.

Iris’ eyes went wide with shock and her face lit up. “Oh my God, Barry! You didn’t tell me you made out with prince,” she exclaimed. He shot her a glare to get her to lower her voice and looked around suspiciously to make sure no one had overheard them. “Sorry. But Barry this is amazing!” she apologized.

Barry exhaled, trying his best to put on a smile, but it wasn’t showing given Iris’ confused look. “What do you not like him?” she inquired.

“No, I do. It’s just—it’s only been two weeks since I’ve known the guy, and I feel like we’re moving way too fast. And he’s a prince from a country fourteen hours away from here. There’s no way this would work,” he bemoaned.

“Not with that attitude,” Iris fired back. She took a sip of her coffee and leaned forward on the table, and smirked at him. “Some people only need a week to find the love of their life and others take years, there’s no set time frame, Barry.”

“I know that, Iris. But is it worth it to have feelings for someone who’s next in line to rule a country? I mean, I don’t know if I want to move to Gedova.”

“Calm down, Barry. Who said anything about moving to Gedova? You two are just hanging out and going on dates. It’s not like you’re getting married tomorrow or something… unless Gedova is different than the U.S. about dating,” she joked.

“Ha-ha, very funny. But seriously, Iris, am I thinking too much about this?” he asked, slinking back in his chair.

Iris huffed, but never lost that glowing smirk on her lips. “Barry, you’re going on dates with a prince that you clearly are starting to have feelings for. Just enjoy it. Who knows maybe you and Eddie are meant to be.”

“Right,” he said unconvinced.

“Just watch. Something will happen.” She took another sip of her coffee and leaned back in her chair. “So when’s the next time you’ll see him?”

“Tomorrow. We’re supposed to be having dinner in his suite before he leaves Saturday.”

“Sounds like another opportunity to lock lips with the prince again before he leaves. Better make it a night to remember,” she joked.

Barry just rolled his eyes, but a smile returned to his face and he felt much better now than he had before. He’d spent all night after fair thinking about Eddie, and what last night meant. Whatever, he had with Eddie, he didn’t want it to end, but reality was creeping closer and after tomorrow night, Eddie would be gone.

He heard his cell phone ping and he checked it and saw a text message from Eddie.

**_Does tomorrow night at 7 work for you? – Eddie._ **

He tried to hide his grin when he read the message, but Iris was more than likely already aware of who it was texting him. He didn’t have many friends outside of her, so it wasn’t hard for her to guess.

**_Yeah that sounds perfect. I’ll see you then!_ **

When he looked back up at Iris, she was fighting back the urge to laugh. “I’m assuming that was the prince?”

“Yeah. He’s just excited about our dinner date tomorrow.

“Alright, so now for the juicy part. How good of a kisser is he?” Iris asked, breaking him out of his own thoughts.

Barry sputtered and nearly choked on his coffee, and Iris just grinned wider. She might be his best friend and one of the most important people in his life, but she would probably be the death of him.

 

● ● ●

 

The Grand Central City Hotel was one of several places that Barry never dared going into unless he had business there which was only one time in his life, and that was to deliver food when he worked as a delivery boy back in high school.

But here he was, being let into the hotel lobby by the doorman who had already been told to expect him and where to find Eddie’s suite, which apparently was the executive suite on the top floor. Everything about the hotel was even more glamorous than he remembered from the last time he stepped foot inside.

The front desk attendants though cast a bizarre glance at him when he walked past them to the elevator, and he started to feel even more out of place then before. But he swallowed his feelings of insecurity and pressed forward into the elevator and waited until he reached the tenth floor.

Eddie’s suite just so happened to the one farthest down the hall and closest to the window that overlooked the city out towards the waterfront, and Barry could only wonder how much he’d been paying to stay here. He stopped in front of suite 10-A and exhaled deeply before knocking.

Within seconds he heard a click and Eddie opened the door, beaming when he saw Barry, and Barry couldn’t help but smile wider too.

“Barry, I’m glad you made it,” Eddie greeted.

Barry tried not to gawk at Eddie with his white button down shirt partially unbuttoned at the top, and hair slightly disheveled making it look like someone had just finished carding fingers through it roughly. Together all of it pushed vivid thoughts of Eddie and Barry tangled together, naked in bed, but he tried to push the dirty thoughts from his mind.

Instead he just kept smiling and looked around, trying hard to ignore his thoughts. “Did you think I wouldn’t come?”

“No, I figured you would. It’s just… that—you know what, never mind, it’s not a big deal,” Eddie replied. “Come in, please.”

Barry did his best to hide his perplexed expression which wasn’t hard to do when he saw the inside of Eddie’s rented hotel room. The suite had a large kitchen with an island and chairs and a large living room complete with beautiful beige colored armchairs and a huge sofa. Barry could see the bedroom out of the corner of his eye and the bed was gigantic, probably being able to fit four people in.

But what caught his attention the most was the dining room table that was set with several plates filled to the brim with steak, potatoes, and shrimp elegantly placed on top of a bed of noodles and two glasses filled with looked like champagne.  

“Eddie, this is freaking awesome!” Barry admired loudly. He could feel his eyes nearly bulging with excitement as he examined almost every inch of the suite.

Eddie let out what looked like a sigh of relief, and now Barry was really wondering what was going on with him. “That’s good to know. I was afraid you would think it’s too over the top, so that’s good to hear.”

“Are you sure everything’s okay, Eddie?” Barry asked again.

“Yeah—yeah everything’s fine. I’m just a little stressed out because I want everything to be perfect. That’s all,” he assured. It was then that Eddie sauntered into Barry’s space, giving a small peck on the lips that Barry would’ve been eager to return had Eddie not pulled back so quickly. “C’mon, let’s sit and eat. The food only just got her a few minutes before you did so it should still be hot.”

Barry nodded a little and followed Eddie’s lead and sat across from the prince, who was smiling on the outside, but Barry could see that his smile didn’t reach as far as it normally did. Whatever happened in the time they hadn’t seen one another had changed Eddie pretty drastically, and it was extremely confusing to Barry.

They sat in quiet silence for a few minutes while they started to dig into their food, and Barry had to hold in several sighs of ecstasy as he tasted everything. Eddie, however, was just quietly eating and shooting glances over at Barry in between.

“I don’t know how they managed to do this, but the steak is perfect. Is this what it’s like to eat like a prince all the time?” Barry asked with a satisfied smile on his face.

“Not always. My mom isn’t a great cook, but was determined to do it when my sister and I were kids. After I turned twelve she finally realized we needed a chef,” Eddie answered with a smirk.

“Well your mom and I have something in common. I’m kind of a danger in the kitchen, according to Iris,” Barry teased. That made Eddie laugh a little, and Barry hoped that maybe things were going to get better from her on. “So are you excited to go home tomorrow?”

Eddie’s small smile disappeared again, and Barry figured he’d asked the wrong question. “Sort of. I’m excited to see my family, but—there’s just—something doesn’t feel right is all.”

Barry nodded along like he understood, but he wasn’t quite sure what Eddie was upset about. “C’mon you’re a prince. I’m sure you can do whatever you want over there. It’s boring here in Central City, and I’m probably boring compared to all the other famous people you could be eating with,” Barry said in jest to try and lighten the mood.

Again, Eddie’s face had fallen even further, and Barry was seriously starting to wonder if Eddie’s bad mood was because of him. “I—Barry, you’re part of the reason I’m so conflicted about leaving,” he admitted. Barry’s eyes were wide and but he didn’t dare speak before Eddie explained whatever it was that was bothering him. “I guess you can tell something’s been bothering me can’t you?” Eddie asked.

“Just a little bit,” Barry answered hesitantly.

Eddie sighed. “I didn’t want to ruin dinner, but I guess I’ve let my nerves and fear get the best of me, and of course on my last day here.”

“Fear about what?” Barry questioned.

Eddie paused for a moment, studying Barry with crisp blue eyes, and Barry did his best not to gawk at the prince because even in a moment like this when Eddie was visibly upset, he was still gorgeous. “I dated someone years ago back in Gedova,” he started. “He was funny, smart, a little goofy. He was just a normal, down-to-Earth person, a lot like you actually.”

“Sounds like a decent guy,” Barry added with a nervous smile.

“He was,” Eddie added in a smaller voice.

Part of Barry didn’t want to ask because it seemed like it held painful memories for Eddie, but curiosity as usual got the better of him. “So what happened to him?”

Eddie let out another deep sigh and swallowed down the rest of his champagne. “Fame, paparazzi, you name it. It was hard for him dating a prince. He tried though. He put up with the cameras, the weeks without seeing each other, the strict rules and customs for over a year, but deep down he hated it. Finally, he broke down and couldn’t do it anymore. We loved each other, but he couldn’t handle the lifestyle.”

Now he saw where this was going. But Barry was scared to know Eddie was already feeling this way about him.

“I know you’re thinking that we just met and it’s not the same, but—Barry, I want to keep giving this a chance. You’re unlike anyone else I’ve ever met, and I don’t want this to end when I go back to Gedova,” he admitted.

Barry’s mind scrambled to think of words or anything to say to him. He’d been an idiot if he hadn’t thought about him and Eddie long-term, but each time it ended in disappointment. Eddie lived fourteen hours away in a country he’d never heard of until Iris had brought it up three weeks ago.

But Eddie was different than anyone else he’d dated. Their connection was strong even for two people who’d known each other for only two weeks, and maybe it was worth it.

“Eddie—I—I don’t want this to end either,” he stuttered. His hands were shaking a little, and his face felt hot. He shrugged his shoulders and his lips curled into a smile slightly. “This is all new to me, going on dates with a prince, but I’m willing to keep going with this if you are.”

When the words finally left his mouth his heart felt heavy and motionless, waiting to see Eddie’s reaction. When he saw Eddie’s face light up, brilliant smile and all, he felt some sense of ease and relief. That was when he realized that he and Eddie were kind of officially boyfriends.

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard in a long time, Barry.” Eddie’s hand lightly gripped the collar of Barry’s shirt and he pulled him forward, capturing his lips in a kiss. Barry hadn’t been prepared for the kiss, but he just let himself get swept up in the moment.

Barry gently broke the kiss and sat back in his chair, a content and lazy grin stretched across his lips. Eddie was beaming too, and new and growing feelings were pleasantly simmering inside his chest.

“You know, I’m kind full after that steak. Are you done?” Eddie asked. His smile was no longer bright and radiant, but a lewd almost devilish smirk now that did little to hide what his intentions were now.

“Umm, yeah. Definitely full.” Barry, on his part never thought things would get this far, so he didn’t quite know how to react now that Eddie was clearly wanting more than just kissing.

Eddie slowly rose from his chair and Barry sat still, his eyes fixed on him the entire time as Eddie made his way over to his seat. Eddie took Barry’s hand and pulled him up, and Barry rose easily and fell into Eddie’s grasp.

“If you don’t want to do this just tell me,” Eddie whispered. Barry swallowed down any nerves he had and smiled gently.

“I want this, I promise.” Eddie nodded and pressed another kiss to Barry’s lips, but this time more vibrant, taking Barry’s bottom lip underneath his own. He tried to kiss back, but had to pause whenever Eddie would gently bite his lip, and damn if that didn’t send shiver down his body.

“Let’s go back to the bedroom,” Eddie breathed, lips hovering right over Barry’s.

“Yeah,” Barry muttered in agreement. Eddie took his hand and lead him back to the bedroom, managing to flick the light switch to the living room off before they were back in the spacious, lamp-lit bedroom. Barry didn’t get much of a chance to survey the room before he was practically tossed onto the mattress, staring up at Eddie.

“Sorry if that was a little rough,” Eddie apologized as he started to slowly undo the buttons of his own shirt.

“Definitely not a problem. This guy can handle a little rough,” Barry joked with a teasing laugh at the end.

“Good,” Eddie replied. Eddie discarded his shirt onto the ground and climbed and straddled Barry, hands on both sides of Barry pinning him down to the bed, and Barry just moaned having Eddie rubbing against him. Eddie smirked and leaned closer to Barry, his lips almost touching Barry’s. “Because I don’t like to be gentle.”

Next thing he knew, Eddie’s lips were on his again and their bodies were practically flush together. This was definitely part of a fantasy that had played out in his head before. Barry simply held on to Eddie’s arms and let Eddie take over which he avidly did. He sighed and moaned as Eddie started to nibble on his bottom lip gently, and felt them both getting harder.

He pushed Eddie off of him for a moment, and threw his sweater off and onto the floor somewhere, leaving his chest cold and exposed. That problem was quickly remedied when Eddie started peppering Barry’s body with chaste kisses, starting with his collarbone and slowly working his way down Barry’s chest. Eddie’s hands caressed his chest and he panting heavily as the sensations sparked across him.

“Do you know how beautiful you are Barry?” Eddie sighed, stopping right about Barry’s navel.

“Could say the same about you,” Barry laughed, his voice light. He moaned obscenely loud when he felt Eddie’s hands slide over his erection, and he felt his pants get tight to the point of discomfort. He slid his hands down to undo his belt but Eddie deliberately pushed them away.

“Let me take care of it,” he whispered. Eddie’s sat up and slowly started to undo Barry’s belt and the button of his pants, and Barry wiggled around to help him get them off. Soon he was only had his boxers on, a pair of superman boxers that had Eddie grinning, and Barry sticking his tongue out.

“Don’t make fun of me. Superman is the best,” Barry remarked.

“I think it’s cute,” Eddie replied. Eddie started working to rid himself of his own pants, pushing them along with his socks down and off and leaving him in silk black boxer.

Eddie was a sight to behold, seeing the muscles and all that had been hidden underneath all the suits, and he couldn’t hide the glances down to the outline of Eddie’s erection that was almost barely concealed in the boxers.

“Is it weird that I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now?” Barry said as a joke, but honestly feeling like that inside.

“Funny. I was going to say the same thing,” Eddie said with a smirk, and he leaned down to kiss Barry again.

Barry groaned because impatience had begun to well up inside of him. They were so close to going to that next level, but Eddie was just teasing him with more kisses.

“Eddie,” Barry whined, and Eddie laughed, clearly amused from what Barry could see. Eddie didn’t say anything, but his hand traveled down and Barry nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt Eddie’s hand leisurely stroke his erection his boxers. His breathing was already heavy and labored as Eddie gradually increased the speed of his strokes, and Eddie was clearly enjoying himself given the satisfied smirk on his face.

“God, Barry, if only you could see what you look like right now,” he teased. Barry tried to laugh but it was drowned out on another sigh of pleasure. Eddie’s hands slipped underneath the elastic band of his boxers and Barry moaned when he felt Eddie’s hands on his cock. Eddie seemed to pick up on his impatience and pulled Barry’s boxers down.

Barry took initiative of his own and slowly pulled Eddie’s boxers down and he smirked when Eddie’s on erection was freed. He was leaking too and Barry took advantage of that and started stroking him, smearing the precome as lube. Eddie was groaning and nearly losing control as Barry started jerking him, and Barry was doing the same if not worse.

But he didn’t want to come. Not this way. He wanted all of Eddie because could be the last time they see each other in person for a while and he wasn’t going to let him leave with just a simple handjob.

“Do you wanna try something else?” Barry asked.

“Yeah. Everything’s in the nightstand,” Eddie answered. Barry hoisted himself up and back further onto the bed and he opened the nightstand and saw a brand new bottom of what looked like expensive lube and condoms and grabbed them. When he looked back at Eddie he was nervous grinning. “I may have gone a little overboard on buying that, but I wanted everything to be special for you.”

It shouldn’t have been endearing as it was, but Barry couldn’t help but find it adorable that Eddie was willing to spend a ridiculous amount on something as simple as lube and condoms for him. Barry kissed him, enjoying the surprise and intoxication on his face.

Barry broke their lips apart and held the lube and condom out for him, and shucked off his boxers leaving him stark naked on his bed. “C’mon, let’s do this,” he nudged. Eddie looked down at Barry’s cock and back up at his face and the blush on his cheeks spread, but he grinned before discarding his own boxers.

When Barry was on his back, Eddie slicked up some of his fingers with the lube, one finger slowly pressing at Barry’s rim to spread it around. Eddie teased him with one finger threatening to push inside, but the feeling would vanish as Eddie went back to spreading the lube.

“I swear to God, if you don’t start doing something, Eddie, I’m gonna do it myself,” Barry threatened with a lust-filled grin.

Eddie laughed, and Barry felt his finger sink into him and Barry was breathing hard as Eddie stretched him open, his finger sinking in and out of him. Barry eventually go too lost in the pleasure to keep up with how many fingers Eddie had inside of him, but by the time he was desperate enough to tell Eddie to stop and fuck him, he saw three fingers being pulled out through his half-lidded eyes.

After that things became a whirlwind of pleasure, passion, and want. They stopped the foreplay all together, Eddie quickly slicking the condom on and lubing up and Barry eagerly wanting Eddie inside him. Eddie was quick to oblige and he slowly buried himself into Barry, and Barry was mess of moans and heavy panting.

Eddie was tender with him though, kissing his neck as he thrust in and out and whispering tender praises to him. Barry was the opposite. He could only yelp, scream, and shout variations of _fuck, harder, and please_ to the prince. For him, Eddie was everything he needed: tender but rough, gentle but powerful and all at the same time.

“So close, Eddie,” Barry panted as he managed to stroke himself while Eddie had continued to push into him. Everything felt so surreal that his mind was starting not to register the sensation of Eddie’s touch due to sensory overload. Instead all that he could do was slowly jerk himself off while focusing on how Eddie looked through his half lidded eyes, a sight that was damn near perfect.

“You look gorgeous like this Barry, so fucking perfect,” Eddie groaned, his breath playing at Barry’s lips. Eddie’s words were the last little push to send Barry over the edge, and Barry came with a heavy groan, spilling across his hand and chest. He could barely hear Eddie pant in his ear before he realized that Eddie had just come too while still buried inside him.

The two froze for a moment, the room filled only with the sound of the heavy breathing, but their eyes never left each other’s gazes, and Barry wondered if this was what heaven was like.  

Eddie slipped out of him, discarding the used condom into a trash bin nearby before grabbing a cloth that was nearby on the nightstand. He tossed it Barry to wipe himself off, and Eddie just told him to trash it.

Eddie collapsed onto the bed beside Barry, naked body glistening with sweat and a tired smile stretched across his face. Barry could feel himself grinning lazily too, but he didn’t want to say anything and interrupt the peaceful quiet. He felt Eddie’s hand start to rummage slowly through his hair, and he turned to the prince and saw him sleepily staring at him.

“Did I mention that you’re amazing, Barry?” he asked playfully.

“You may have mentioned that once or twice while we were having sex,” Barry answered mockingly.

Eddie laughed breathily and entwined his leg with Barry’s. “Will you stay the night with me?”

Barry went silent for a moment, and just gazed at Eddie. He hadn’t really imagined that they’d be having sex much less him spending the night with Eddie. But hell, it felt right and he really didn’t want to lose the blissful feeling he was experiencing.

“Yeah,” he breathed.

Eddie never lost that lazy, but bright grin, and he lifted up to reach over to turn the lamps off. When it was completely dark in the room, Barry turned on his side to get comfortable, and he felt Eddie wrap an arm around him and his warm body press against his back.

“When’s the next time you’ll be back in America?” Barry mumbled. Part of him figured it would be a while before he would see Eddie again because he was a prince with things to do, and Barry wasn’t exactly in any position money wise to travel fourteen hours to Gedova.

Eddie breathed in and out deeply and he laced his fingers with Barry’s. “I don’t know. Probably not for a while though. I wish I could stay here with you Barry, or bring you with me to Gedova.”

“Yeah… if only,” Barry lamented quietly. He didn’t want to ruin the moment with depressing thoughts that they wouldn’t be seeing each other again for a while. More importantly, he didn’t want to think that this whole relationship with Eddie was a huge mistake.

“Still can’t believe him falling asleep, naked in bed with a prince. I feel like if I ever told anyone that, they’d think I was insane,” Barry muttered cheerfully, trying to change the subject.

Eddie chuckled. “All that matters is that you and I know it’s true. I like you, Barry Allen, and I don’t care who all knows and believes that.”

“Same here, Prince Eddie,” Barry said with a playful emphasis on the prince. Eddie laughed into his neck and Barry felt so at peace that he slipped into a blissful slumber without any warning, Eddie behind him snoring quietly and wrapped comfortably around him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the angst starts here, and I know last chapter was so happy. Don't hate me please!

“Barry, are you paying attention?” Joe called out. Barry quickly snapped his eyes away from his phone, and looked up at Joe and Captain Singh who were staring very angrily in his direction.

“Uhh—yeah—something about the victim being an alcoholic,” Barry replied anxiously as he shoved his phone back in his jacket pocket.

Joe pinched his forehead and Singh groaned and rolled his eyes. The team of detectives were now all looking at Barry, and he sunk down in his chair a little in shame.

“Mr. Allen, we moved on from the victim’s alcoholism twenty minutes ago. Unless you’d like to be replaced by someone who is actually capable of paying attention for more than two minutes I suggest you make sure that I don’t see that phone again for the rest of the day,” Singh threatened.

“Yes, sir,” Barry replied.

He couldn’t help but be distracted since he’d been texting Eddie the entire time Singh had been talking. It was a little over a month ago that he and Eddie had spent the night together, and then had parted ways that morning. Before Eddie left to be taken to his private plane, he and promised Barry that he would talk to him every day, and left him with a kiss that was promising but sad as well.

That was the last thing Barry had to remember his and Eddie’s last few hours together in person, and it was bittersweet.

But Eddie kept his promise, and they texted and would video chat constantly. Barry ended up sleep deprived some nights just because of the time difference between the two of them, but he felt it was worth it.

Joe often felt otherwise.

The rest of the meeting to discuss the latest victim in a murder case proceeded slowly until it was finally over after what felt like hours. Barry was about to get up to go to his lab when Joe put a firm hand on his shoulder.

“You and I are going to talk. In your lab right now,” Joe commanded.

Barry sighed, but followed his foster father upstairs into his lab and took a seat in one of the chairs, waiting for Joe to lay into him. After all it wasn’t the first time in the last few weeks he’d screwed up and been called out by Singh.

“Barry, this is the fourth time you’ve been caught slacking off. Not to mention all the times that you’ve been late to work too,” Joe berated.

“Sorry, Joe. I just haven’t been getting enough sleep lately,” Barry answered. He yawned and while he’d hoped that it would add some more credence to his excuse, but all it did was make Joe glare harder at him.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. And I’m sure it’s because you’re wasting all your time talking to that prince in a far off country.” Barry’s eyes went wide for a moment before looking down and shrugging his shoulders and curling in on himself. Joe exhaled and grabbed a seat from one of Barry’s tables and sat across from him. “Look, Barry. He’s a crown prince in a country that you’ve never even seen before. Is it worth obsessing and possibly losing your job over him?”

Barry sighed. “I don’t know, Joe. It just felt right.”

“And how’s it been, not seeing him for the last month?”

“I guess it feels weird. But we text, we video chat, and sometimes he calls. I don’t know Joe, I’m still trying to figure it all out,” Barry explained exasperatedly.

Joe stood up from his seat and placed a firm, reassuring grip on Barry’s shoulder while giving him his most warm reassuring smile possible. “You don’t have to have it all figured out right now, Barry. But, you do need to realize that if Singh catches you on your phone or late for work one more time, even I won’t be able to help you.”

“I know,” Barry sighed. Joe gave him another pat on the shoulder before leaving back down stairs to his desk. Barry sat dejectedly in the chair for a bit longer, reflecting on Joe’s words.

It’s not like he hadn’t known what he was getting into with Eddie being so far away. It’s just that he hadn’t expected it to start taking a noticeable toll on him so quickly. But he told Eddie this was what he wanted, and in most respects he did. But he was starting to realize he hadn’t thought things through well enough.

The rest of the day had more or less proceeded the same way. Singh was still noticeably agitated about Barry’s lack of attentiveness and speed, and as a result Barry had spent the entire day racing to catch up on all the reports he’d forgotten to do all day. By the time the end of the day had rolled around he had finished almost all of the missed reports and even some that he had left to get done today. Singh seemed surprised, and had given him another warning about slacking off at work.  

On his way out he turned down Joe’s offer for a ride back to the West house to have dinner there, instead choosing to rush home because he had told Eddie they’d video chat when he got off work and Eddie had woken up.

But by the time he’d ran all the way back to his apartment nine blocks away he was starting to realize what Joe was talking about earlier. His entire day was centered around Eddie, who was thousands of miles away and it was clearly starting to affect how he even lived his life every day.

The sky turned grey and cloudy and raindrops started to fall as he reached his apartment, but thankfully he was back before the rain started coming down hard. He opened the door his apartment panting and feeling as though his lungs were going to implode.

He lumbered over to his desktop computer sitting in the corner of the living room of his small apartment, and he turned it on. He checked his phone and saw Eddie had texted him, asking if they were going to video chat.

Barry grinned and typed back as fast as he could even though his entire body was fatigued even down to his fingers. He pulled up the video chat application his computer and saw Eddie was already online, and within seconds Eddie was calling him. Barry took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and answered.

“Hey, Barry,” Eddie greeted sleepily. Barry felt his heart palpitating a little seeing Eddie grinning lazily at him with massive bed-head and clad in pajamas.

“Hey, Eddie. I’m guessing you just woke up?” he teased.

“Is it that obvious?”

Barry laughed a little. “The pajamas and crazy hair were dead giveaways.”

“Fair enough,” Eddie remarked, flashing another bright smile at Barry.

Barry would’ve given just about anything in that moment to be there with Eddie, but there as usual that unyielding pain of leaving Iris and Joe and the life he lead here in Central City always lingered in the back of his head. His dad too was still here, and even if they didn’t see each other much, he’d be hard-pressed to leave him alone.

“Hey, Bar, you alright?” Eddie inquired, a look of concern draped across his face through the computer screen.

“Huh—oh yeah. I—uh—just zoned out. I ran back home so I’m tired. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Eddie assured. “So tell me about your day.”

Barry did just that, telling Eddie about everything, though leaving out his and Joe’s conversation because Eddie didn’t need to know that his foster father wasn’t exactly a big fan of their relationship given how it was affecting him now. But worse than that, Eddie didn’t need to think that he was once again ruining the life of someone he was dating.

Despite leaving out some details, Eddie didn’t seem enthused to hear that he had been getting jumped on again at work. “Barry, are you sure us dating isn’t causing you to get in trouble at work?”

Barry smirked and brushed off Eddie’s suggestion. “No way. Singh just always harps on me, is all. We’re fine. I promise.”

Eddie still seemed unsure, but his unsure look was veiled behind a faint smile, and Barry smiled back to hide the fact that he’d lied.

“What about you? What do you have going on today?” Barry asked, trying to change the subject.

Eddie hesitated to answer and stuttered a little, and now Barry was starting to get a little concerned about what Eddie was about to say. “I—uh—have a pretty big meeting to go to today actually.”

“Sounds important. What’s it about? It’s not like top secret military plans or anything right?” Barry inquired, trying to sound playful about it.

“Well actually it is a pretty big deal related to the country. It’s—it’s about me being crowned king,” Eddie revealed hesitantly. The obvious lack of enthusiasm was evident in his tone of voice and the even expression on his face.

Barry tried not to let the shock show on his face, but the faint reflection of himself he could see on the computer monitor revealed that his eyes were wide and his mouth slightly ajar. “Wow. That’s something—I mean that’s great, Eddie,” he stammered. His mind was racing a mile a minute with what it meant that Eddie was already in talks to rule the kingdom. If they barely saw each other now, it’d be impossible when he became king.

“You don’t sound so excited, Bar,” Eddie noted.

“No, I’m totally fine. I’m really happy for you!” Barry said with the most feigned enthusiasm he could muster up. “So when are they talking about you taking over, and what all will you have to do?”

Eddie cast him another confused glance and Barry figured Eddie could tell he’d been faking his excitement. “It wouldn’t happen for another couple of years, but they’re going to have me attend council meetings, meetings with other government officials, and basically act as my father’s understudy. Then in a few years, he’ll step back and I’ll take over so that way he’s still around to help me while I’m in charge,” Eddie explained.

Barry nodded and swallowed down the lump that was starting to form in his throat. “So that means you’ll be pretty busy these next couple of weeks, huh?” Barry inquired, leading Eddie to answer whether they’d really even have enough time to text and video chat like they’d been doing since he left.

“Yeah. But, I’ll try to keep in touch as much as I can Barry. I promise,” Eddie comforted.

“Yeah. I’m sure you will,” Barry replied, trying to hide his disappointment. The conversation had definitely hit a tiny sour note, and Barry wasn’t quite sure how he was going to process the information he had, and he definitely didn’t want to give Eddie any indication that he was upset. “Well it’s been a long day, and I’m sure you’ve got to get ready for your big meeting.”

“Umm, yeah I do.” There was a pause and Eddie looked dejected, but he turned a half smile towards Barry. “You know I miss you, Barry.”

Barry smiled and laughed a little. For some reason hearing that always made him feel a little happy inside. Maybe because it was nice to know Eddie wanted to them to be together in person just as much as he did.

“I miss you too, Eddie.”

Eddie smiled. “I’ll talk to you later when it’s all over.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you later, Eddie.” Barry ended the call and sat quietly in the chair for a minute before sulking into his bedroom and throwing himself onto his bed disgruntled and conflicted. On the one hand, he was truly happy for Eddie in taking over the country even if he didn’t seem all that excited for it himself. But maybe Joe was right. Dating Eddie was great, but exhausting.

They didn’t see each other in person because Eddie was across the ocean in Europe, and now on top of that he was learning to become a diplomatic monarch. There would be absolutely no free time for Eddie to Barry, and Barry wasn’t in any position to pack up and move over there either.

At this point it seemed like whatever future he thought he and Eddie could possibly have together was about to come to an abrupt end before it could even begin.

 

● ● ●

 

Barry had figured it would only be a matter of time before Iris had caught on that he was frustrated and annoyed. After his conversation with Eddie and learning he was about to start working his way towards taking over Gedova things had started to sour just a little. Barry had texted him a couple of times and got no response all day which he’d expected, but still didn’t make him feel any better.

In addition to that Singh was still harping on him to get his reports done on time, and Joe was still questioning about his relationship in subtle ways. His absence at the usual family pizza and movie night at Joe’s for the third time was the catalyst Iris needed to finally call him up for lunch on Saturday.

They were both sitting down at Jitters again and it reminded him of when he and Eddie had first met one another and it wasn’t helping his mood at all.

“Alright, time for you to spill. What’s got you so wound up?” Iris started in almost immediately.

Barry sighed and stared down at his cup of coffee before looking back up at Iris. “It’s me and Eddie. Basically he’s about to become king of Gedova and—I guess—I’m kinda stuck over here alone and kind of falling for him,” Barry said, speaking unsurely as the words slowly came to his mind before he spoke.

Iris grinned and Barry noted that there wasn’t a hint of judgement in her expression. “That serious already, huh?” she asked.

“Is it that obvious?”

She rolled her eyes and but continued smirking. “You went from hating the guy to falling for him in the span of a couple of weeks, so yeah it’s pretty obvious.”

Barry chuckled. “Thanks for letting me know,” he teased. “But seriously what am I going to do, Iris. There’s no way I can date a king in a foreign country, and honestly, I can’t see Eddie wanting to keep dating me.”

“Have you considered moving to Gedova?” she suggested.

“Yeah, and to be honest… I don’t think I could do it. I can’t leave you, Joe, or my dad behind. Central City has been my home all my life. I can’t just up and leave,” he admitted, sounding reluctant to say it.

Iris hummed, visibly reflecting on what Barry said. “I don’t know Barry. It sounds like you and Eddie need to have a real conversation about it. I hate to say it, but it almost sounds like you might not be a perfect match for each other,” she stated.

Barry huffed and took a sip of his lukewarm coffee. He cocked an eyebrow up though when Iris’ attention immediately shifted to something behind him. Whatever had caught her attention had completely fascinated her, and she had that same enthralled expression in her eyes.

“What are you staring at?” he finally asked.

“Oh my God. Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are standing right behind you,” she murmured, still louder than Barry would’ve liked if she was trying not to draw attention to them. 

“Wait. Oliver Queen as in CEO of Queen Consolidated, Oliver Queen?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

Barry turned around and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he saw Oliver Queen himself standing behind the gorgeous blonde haired woman he was engaged to. He couldn’t tell who was more attractive, Oliver Queen or Felicity who was looking around the coffee shop curiously.

Barry panicked and quickly turned back around when Oliver had noticed him and gave him and odd glance. “I think he just glared at me,” he said.

“Well whatever you did, both they’re both looking at us, and he looks annoyed,” Iris whispered. Barry sat still, resisting the powerful urge to look over his shoulder one more time. “They’re coming this way!” Iris added.

Barry really started to panic now, and he wondered if he’d somehow done something to offend them when he was staring.

It felt like an eternity but after a few moments Oliver Queen and the woman, Felicity, Oliver Queen’s fiancé whom he’d occasionally seen with Oliver on the news were standing beside them at the table. Some people in the coffee shop had taken notice of the two of them, but no one dared to say anything.

Felicity was smiling brightly, and pushed up her rather stylish square glasses. Something about her seemed oddly familiar, but he’d never met her before, and he was pretty sure it had something to do with her name.

“I know this may sound creepy and really crazy, but your name wouldn’t happen to be Barry Allen, would it?” she asked all of a sudden.

Barry’s heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest, but he swallowed and nodded. “Umm yeah, that’s me,” Barry answered.

“See, I told you it was him!” she remarked, poking Oliver in the chest with her finger.

“And I said that it was possible, but you can’t be too sure,” Oliver fired back at her, with a tone that was almost completely playful and teasing which wasn’t at all how Oliver Queen came across in company interviews or in the press.

“Which is Oliver Queen for _, that’s not him and you’re wrong_ ,” Felicity retorted. Oliver groaned and rolled his eyes, and Felicity had a smug grin on her face.

“I hate to interrupt, but were you looking for me?” Barry inquired, growing mildly impatient at having to wait for why the girlfriend of one of America’s most iconic billionaires was looking for him.

Felicity seemed startled by Barry’s interruption, but she smiled again. “Sorry, I just had to take a moment to rub me being right in Oliver’s face. But we actually were looking for you. The reason being that I wanted to meet you after Eddie wouldn’t stop talking about you,” she explained.

Realization finally hit him hard, and he remembered Eddie saying that he had a sister that was engaged to an American businessman. Felicity Smoak was Eddie’s sister, and Oliver Queen was the fiancée. “Oh my God. You’re Eddie’s sister,” he blurted out.

“That would be me. I’m glad to finally meet you, Barry,” she said cheerfully. “And this surly human being next to me, that I’m quite sure does not need or want any introduction, is Oliver.”

Oliver once again rolled his eyes in retaliation, but he put out a hand for Barry to shake which he did.

“Uh nice to meet you both. This is my friend, Iris,” Barry introduced as he shook Oliver’s hand.

“Mr. Queen and Ms. Smoak, it’s an honor to meet you both! I’ve been following you two for years—I mean in a non-creepy way since I’m a journalist,” Iris remarked excitedly. Barry figured Iris was on cloud nine after getting to meet the prince of Gedova two and a half months ago and now meeting his sister and her soon-to-be husband who was also one of the richest and most successful men in the country.

“It’s good to meet you, Iris,” Felicity said offering her a warm smile. Felicity turned her attention to Barry. “We came over from Starling City because Oliver and I managed to take some time off and Eddie really wanted us to meet so here we are. Though to be honest we weren’t expecting to run into you here. I just heard the coffee here was really good,” Felicity started saying, but Oliver put an arm around her waist and she stopped.

Barry and Iris both looked at each other for a moment, Barry realizing that she had a really good tendency to ramble, but in a sort of adorable way.

“Sorry. I have a tendency to get off track,” she apologized. “Do you mind if we join you both?”

“We’d love for you to!” Iris interjected, taking the option out of Barry’s hands. Barry nodded and grinned in agreement and both Iris and Barry stood up and moved tables with Oliver and Felicity, finding a table for four to sit at.

For the first few moments it was silent, partially because Iris was complete taken with Oliver Queen sitting in front of her, and partly because Barry didn’t quite get how he could be contemplating ending his relationship with Eddie only for his sister to show up in that exact moment.

“So, Barry, Eddie said you’re a forensic scientist for the police department,” Felicity commented.

“Yeah. It’s pretty exciting sometimes. I get to examine crime scenes, analyze blood and other weird things,” he said with a shrug. “Eddie said you’re a big into computers and that you graduated from MIT.”

“Class of 2009. It’s not a big deal though. But that is how I met Oliver. Queen Consolidated hired me right out of school to work in their IT department, and right after that I met Oliver when he was having computer trouble and needed my expert skills. He was pretty much smitten with me right after that.”

“That’s not how it happened. In fact, I recall that you were the one who was smitten with me first when I met you that day,” Oliver corrected.

Barry found their back and forth bickering amusing and he could see that they cared about one another deeply. But it also just made him miss Eddie more.

“So did you know that Felicity was a princess when your company hired her?” Iris asked.

“Well not at first. We only found out after the company ran a background check on her like we do all of our employees and we realized that Smoak was the maiden name of Felicity’s mother, and her actual last name is Felicity Thawne of the Gedovian royal family,” Oliver answered.

All eyes turned to Felicity and she had a shocked look on her face. “Woah no need for all the eyes. I just chose that name because I wanted to come to the U.S. for school without having to deal with anyone treating me differently. So I used a different last name. Oliver was the first person to figure it out that I didn’t intentionally tell.”

Barry noted another similarity between her and Eddie. Felicity seemed content to not be famous and popular, though he figured that had probably changed since she started dating Oliver.

“How is Eddie doing?” he finally got the courage to ask.

“He’s doing okay. He’s been busy back home in Gedova attending a lot of meetings and doing a lot of work with our dad,” Felicity explained. “But he’s been a lot happier lately than I’ve seen him before. And I really think it’s because of you, Barry.”

The news was good to hear, and Barry gave his best attempt at a smile towards her. Though she didn’t seem to notice anything off, Oliver was now giving him this puzzled glance and Barry felt a little terrified on the inside.

“I’m—uh—glad he’s doing well. I wish I could be there, but it’s kind of hard to pack up my life and follow him,” Barry remarked hoping he sounded like he was joking.

The table was silent for a moment, but it was Oliver who finally broke the silence, turning to Felicity with a gentle smile that he was beginning to think the man wasn’t capable of.

“Felicit, do you mind getting us some coffee?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah. I guess that’s what we initially came here for. I will get us two coffees and two Panini sandwiches which I heard were the best in the area,” she said.

“I’ll come with you. I used to work here, so I know the menu like the back of my hand and tell you what’s best,” Iris offered.

“That would be great. Thanks, Iris.”

Iris and Felicity went and stood in line to order, and Barry watched as the two of them already fell into an easy conversation with one another. Oliver on the other hand was staring at him hard and he was starting to wonder if he’d done something wrong.

“So, Barry, I know it’s not my place to say this, but you’re not really all that happy with yours and Eddie’s relationship are you?” Oliver guessed, and Barry swallowed and looked down at his coffee. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want.”

“No, you’re—uh—you’re right. It’s been hard this last month without Eddie. Part of me just feels like I’m holding on to nothing.” Barry realized he was talking to Eddie’s sister’s boyfriend and it might not be the best idea to be venting to him, but Oliver seemed to read his mind and smiled.

“Don’t worry, Barry. I’m not going to tell Felicity any of this,” he promised. “Eddie’s not doing that well either, to be honest.”

That made Barry’s eyes shoot open, and he could see Oliver was being serious.

“Is he alright?” Barry asked.

“He never wanted to take over the throne, and his family knows it. But his father is getting tired and older and so they’re forcing him into it now. And on top of that, he misses you, Barry, and I think he can tell you’re not happy.”

“He can?” Barry asked, not surprised in the least, but still concerned.

Oliver nodded. “Felicity had a video chat with him before we came here, and he looked tired. When she mentioned you, he looked upset.” Oliver stopped to check and make sure Felicity and Iris were still in line, and they were, but were about to order. He turned back to Barry and offered him a half smile. “He misses you, Barry. But I think he also sees the harm being apart for so long is doing to you.”

Barry sighed and look away, and he knew he was screwed. He missed Eddie, and the last thing he wanted to do was for Eddie to feel guilty for him feeling the way he did. It was even worse knowing what had happened in Eddie’s last serious relationship.

But Barry knew what he was getting into when he agreed to move into this with Eddie, and all this pain of being so far away was the price he agreed to pay for it.

Maybe for both of their sake’s it would be easier to end this. He just didn’t know what to do or where to get answers.

“What’s it like dating royalty, Oliver?” he asked. Oliver raised an eyebrow in a questioning look directed at him. “I mean, like how did you and Felicity make it work?”

Oliver nodded slightly and sighed. “I won’t lie and say it was easy because it took a lot of work. I’m not the easiest person to get along with and Felicity’s home was hours away. We were apart a lot. But, we made it work because we cared about each other.” Barry watched Oliver intently and nodded along, and Oliver grinned a little. They both looked over to see Iris and Felicity getting the coffee and food now and realized they didn’t have much longer. “I know you want the answers on what to do, but I can’t give you that, Barry. All I can tell you is to just hold on a little bit longer. You’ll know soon enough if it’s meant to be or not. But don’t give up on you and Eddie just yet.”

Felicity and Iris walked back up to the table, and the both of them looked between Oliver and Barry curiously.

“Is everything alright?” Felicity asked unsure.

“Yeah, you two look like you had some serious life talk or something,” Iris agreed.

“Oh no, Barry and I we were just getting to know each other better,” Oliver said, smiling as he turned to Barry.

Barry put on a grin and nodded in agreement. “Yeah we were just talking. Oliver’s a pretty cool guy, Felicity.”

That put a smile on Felicity’s face and she turned to Oliver and hugged him, snuggling close to him for a moment which Oliver pretended to hate though Barry could see his smile trying to shine through.

“Sometimes I think he’s worth keeping around,” Felicity teased.

Iris was smiling brightly and Barry couldn’t help but smile too. But in his mind Oliver’s words were still echoing. He had been ready to give up on him and Eddie even though it had only been a month without seeing him. But Oliver gave him hope.

Maybe he could do this for a little while longer. He cared about Eddie. Hell he could probably even say he loved him. He was just going to need a sign really soon that all this pain and heartache at least would all be worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will have more happier moments and a bit more angst cause we're almost to the end! Thanks for reading as always!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh it's been forever since I updated this, but here it is! I'm almost done. Forewarning, this chapter definitely has a lot of angst from Barry as reality is starting to set in for him and Eddie. Hope you enjoy it!

Barry wondered what wrong he’d done in the universe that warranted someone knocking on his door at— nine o’clock he realized as he looked over to check the alarm clock on his nightstand. Working a case late last night had prevented him from getting his preferred ten hours of sleep on the weekends. The knocking had been incessant, and he realized that if he wanted to actually get some more sleep he was going to have to answer it.

He dragged himself out of bed and forced his feet to move towards the door though he really didn’t want to answer it. He hoped it was just his neighbor or someone in the apartment complex that he could get rid of quickly.

He unlocked and opened the door, and it took several minutes for him to register the blond-haired man standing on the other side, smiling brightly with those blue eyes he knew so well.

“E…Eddie?” Barry stammered. Eddie looked so casual, wearing a pair of jeans, a simple white button down, and a light brown leather jacket over it all. Not at all what he’d expect a future king to be allowed to walk around wearing something so casual.

“Hey, Bar. I hope I didn’t wake you up,” Eddie said, his voice so innocent and hopeful even though Barry could hear how exhausted he sounded.

Barry was speechless for a moment, but he acted on instinct and pulled Eddie into a tight hug which Eddie quickly returned.

It had felt like an eternity since he’d seen Eddie and it had been a while since they’d even talked. With Eddie being so busy learning to be the new king of Gedova. In fact, had Felicity not come to visit last week, he probably would’ve thrown in the towel and given up on their relationship.

But he was here, completely and totally surprised and ecstatic even though he was still exhausted.

“I can’t believe you came all the way here,” Barry said, shock and complete elation still filling his voice.

Eddie kissed his cheek gently and rubbed his back tenderly almost as if to make sure that this was real, and Barry was doing the exact same thing too.

“I wanted to surprise you, and I had a few days free with no work, so I booked the first flight I could get and came over to see you.”

Barry let go of Eddie and quickly stepped back to let him inside the apartment. Eddie only had one relatively large bag with him and Barry secretly hoped that meant Eddie would be staying for a while, but he knew deep down that was most likely wishful thinking.

“I’m glad you did. I—I just can’t believe you’re actually here,” Barry stammered.

“I sort of can’t believe I’m here either to be honest,” Eddie said. Barry could sense the apprehension and sadness in his voice, and he knew something was off with him. “Barry, I can’t tell you how sorry I am for being so selfish. I… want you to be with me, but then I’ve practically disappeared and left you all alone only to show up unannounced. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to be so happy to see me.”

Eddie dropped his bag on the floor and both he and Barry sat down on Barry’s old, slightly worn couch and Barry moved close to Eddie until they were nudged against each other. He felt bad that he seemed so clingy, but Eddie didn’t seem to mind at all and welcome Barry’s presence.

“I know you’ve been busy, Eddie, and I can’t be mad at you for doing your job and what you’ve been raised to do,” Barry admitted.

“You don’t have to make me feel better, Barry,” Eddie cautioned. “It’s been hard being apart from you for so long. I know we would video chat and text, but even that’s become harder to do lately and it’s all my fault.”

Barry put an arm on Eddie’s shoulder and rubbed it gently to reassure the man. “That just means we have to make the most of the time we have now while you’re here.” Barry didn’t want to dwell on the negatives or downside of their relationship right now because he’d spent the better part of an entire week dealing with that.

They had this time together now, so he wasn’t going to let it go to waste.

Eddie smiled at the idea and pressed a light kiss to Barry’s lips, shrugging his jacket off before cupping Barry’s jaw with one of his hands. Soon a light kiss turned into Barry and Eddie making out on his couch, both of them hungrily lusting after one another after being separated for so long. Barry found himself lying flat on his back, Eddie on top of him, kissing him hard, his tongue sliding into Barry’s mouth.

Barry let his hands glide across Eddie’s back party to ensure that this was all real and not some seriously vivid dream. The weight and heat from Eddie’s body though was proof enough that he was really here, and he couldn’t have been happier. The question though was simply how long would this feeling last? Would it go away again the moment Eddie left, and if so, how much longer could he handle feeling so lonely and empty again before he ended up where he was just a day ago.

“Bar, is everything alright?” Eddie asked. He could see the quiet concern in Eddie’s blue eyes, so he pushed back the permeating feels of confusion and dread that had already threatened to take over, and offered a smile back at him.

“No, I’m fine. I’m just… happy you’re here—that’s all.”

That seemed to bring a smile, albeit smaller, to Eddie’s face again and he leaned down to kiss Barry again.

“I missed you so much, Bar. Every night, I wanted you next to me, and in the morning I wanted to wake up to see you and your crazy bedhead.”

Eddie’s words were enough to be stimulation on their own. Barry alone had spent so many nights wondering what it’d be like to wake up next to Eddie, maybe after a long night of sex, or even just watching a movie or talking. Both scenarios had served as ample material to get himself off, just thinking of the first and only time he and Eddie had ever had sex, and he had desperately wanted more. He’d had enough nights were he could just stroke his cock to the sound of Eddie’s voice over the computer when they’d video-called one another. But what really could get him going was weirdly enough the thought of domestic life with Eddie. 

But those thoughts of what it would be like to be with Eddie left him longing so much for what he was confident he could never have with him because Eddie was a prince, and a soon to be king. Barry, on the other hand, was just a simple CSI in a city fourteen hours away.

But for now he’d live the fantasy just a bit longer and hope that time would slow down for every minute of this time they had together.

Barry felt Eddie’s hand slip lower, grazing over the erection that Barry was now sporting, and he let out a long breath that seemed to make Eddie happy.

“God, Bar, do you know how long I’ve wanted to touch you like that again?”

Barry didn’t quite figure out when he’d developed such a kink for hearing Eddie’s voice talking dirty to him. But hearing his deep voice get even deeper with lust could make him come from that alone.

“Jesus, Eddie. I figured you’d be tired from your trip over,” Barry murmured.

“I somewhat am, but I wasn’t going to waste a moment of time with you. You look pretty tired yourself though.”

Barry laughed a little. “Long night working a case.”

Eddie grinned and pulled himself up off of Barry which confused him just a bit.

“Well, how about we go back to your room and I’ll take care of you and then we can both go back to sleep for a bit?”

Barry cocked an eyebrow at him, but Eddie’s suggestive grin insinuated that whatever he was going to do was going to involve at least one or both of them naked.

“Alright. But what are you planning on doing?” Barry asked as he got up off the couch.

“Just let me make you feel good,” Eddie purred.

Barry felt his knees shake just slightly hearing Eddie’s rich voice practically purr like that, and with a nod, he took Eddie’s hand and led the man to his bedroom in the back. He could tell Eddie was looking around, taking in every inch of his apartment that he’d only seen through a computer monitor.

When they were back in Barry’s bedroom, Eddie swiftly turned Barry around and kissed him, this time hard with his tongue raking across every inch of Barry’s mouth. Barry was too surprised to do anything but stand frozen and let Eddie do whatever he wanted.

Eddie put his hands on Barry’s shoulder and pushed him down on the bed before kneeling in front of Barry.

“What are you doing?” Barry asked.

“Making you feel good. You just relax, and if you feel like you’re about to fall asleep that’s fine,” Eddie assured him.

Eddie tugged at Barry’s sweatpants, pulling them down as Barry adjusted himself to make it easier for the man. Once his sweatpants were off, Eddie immediately moved to remove Barry’s boxers freeing his cock that Eddie hungrily eyed.

Eddie pushed Barry back on the bed and Barry felt the pull of his bed already, his eyes wanting to close as he felt the softness of his mattress. He jolted upright when he felt the first warm stripe of Eddie’s tongue up the length of his cock.

Eddie was smirking evilly and Barry knew Eddie was enjoying teasing Barry with both sleep and sex all at the same time.

“Don’t worry. Just sit back and relax, Bar,” Eddie urged, his voice light.

Barry did just that, lying back as he felt another long sweep of Eddie’s tongue up his cock, this time Eddie’s tongue making sure to lick right underneath the hide for that added since of pleasure. Barry felt his toes curling, but the draw to fall back asleep was getting stronger too.

Eddie wasted no time before taking Barry all the way in his mouth, working his cock like it was nothing more than a lollipop.

Barry was breathing hard and struggling to keep his eyes open to watch Eddie bobbing up and down on his cock. Eddie pulled off a little to get a hand around Barry’s cock to jerk him a couple of times, and Barry could already feel the tightness in his balls that signaled his oncoming orgasm.

Eddie continued to tease him with his tongue while jerking his cock off, and Barry struggled to stave off his orgasm for as long as he could. He was finally did in by a stray finger of Eddie’s free hand that started teasing his perineum while Eddie started sucking him off again.

The pleasure and the drowsiness had reached a maximum point and Barry did his best to mumble he was going to come, but he wasn’t sure if Eddie understood him or not.

It seemed to be a moot point with the prince as Eddie didn’t stop sucking when Barry felt the first spurt of come convulse out of him. It hadn’t occurred to him until he was almost done spastically orgasming that Eddie hadn’t removed his mouth from his cock, and had swallowed him down almost effortlessly.

The pull to close his eyes and pass out was officially winning, but he tried to fight it as long as he could so he could stare at Eddie who had pulled off his cock before wiping his mouth and smiling.

“Go back to sleep, Bar,” Eddie quietly commanded, and Barry did just that, letting his eyes close and not open again this time.

 

● ● ●

 

The midafternoon sun came pouring through the window in Barry’s apartment, causing him to stir. He yawned and stretched, noting his nakedness from the waist down during then. He was still groggy, but considerably less tired as he let his eyes adjust to light. He nearly jumped when he felt an arm wrapped around his waist and movement from behind him.

When he looked back, he saw Eddie start to awaken, slowly stretching and yawning. Barry wasn’t sure he’d seen a sight more adorable than Eddie with his eyes closed and hair slightly disheveled from how he slept.

Barry also noticed that Eddie wasn’t wearing anything besides a pair of silk boxers, and figured he must have stripped down sometime after he’d passed out. He only wished he got to see Eddie naked too, but there would definitely be time for that.

“You passed out pretty quickly, Bar,” Eddie mumbled from behind him.

“Well someone knows how to knock a guy out with his mouth,” Barry teased.

Eddie smiled, and Barry felt Eddie’s hand gently caress his stomach.

“So what do you want to do for the rest of the day?”

For some reason Eddie’s question had reminded him that he was supposed to be hanging out and having dinner with Joe and Iris today. He knew Iris wouldn’t mind the surprise, but hopefully Joe wouldn’t mind either.

“Umm, how does dinner with Joe and Iris sound?” he asked.

“That sounds wonderful, Bar. I haven’t seen Iris since our first dinner when she asked for that interview. And I’d love to get to know your father.”

Barry smiled and couldn’t stop himself from kissing him on the lips gently.

“You’re the best. I was thinking we could go over in like an hour? Joe’s making his famous lasagna tonight, and that usually means I get to help taste test it,” he suggested.

“That works for me. Whatever you want to do, Bar.”

Barry couldn’t take his eyes off Eddie’s chest nor the outline of the erection he was sporting underneath his boxers. Eddie seemed to notice he was staring and grinned slowly.

“Well, if it’s whatever I want to do, then I think I want to do something else before we head over,” Barry offered.

“I think I like where this is going,” Eddie teased.

“You should. It involves you and me naked in my shower.”

Eddie leaned in and kissed Barry again, slowly and languidly, making sure he and Barry had ample time to taste one another.

“Lead the way,” Eddie murmured when he pulled his lips back.

Barry was thankful, he’d stayed over at Joe’s a lot the past week because he had a feeling he was going to be running his water bill up a lot this weekend.

 

● ● ●

 

When Barry and Eddie had finally pulled away long enough to get out of the shower and get ready, the two of them walked through the town together even though Barry had insisted on a taxi or Uber to get them there.

Eddie though seemed to be enjoying just walking and talking, Barry could tell he was admiring the city and just being out in the open. Listening to the stories Eddie had told of how structured and rigid his life had become since he’d been thrust into the line of succession, Barry could hear how tired, angry, and miserable he was.

“So you had no free time?” Barry asked after Eddie relayed another story of his regimented life.

“The only free time I had was an hour to get ready in the morning, and maybe the twenty minutes at night before I passed out. Every other minute was spent listening to different secretaries deliver absurdly long speeches on the state of affairs in Gedova, which I can assure you hasn’t changed in the last thirty years.”

“I’m sorry you’ve had it so bad, Eddie,” Barry bemoaned. “Is there any way you can get out of it?”

“Not really. The only shot I had was if Felicity ever wanted to take over, but I think she’s content living her life here, and I couldn’t ask for her to give that up.”

Barry hummed in agreement even though his mind felt very differently. He wanted Eddie to be selfish and ask her so that he could selfishly have Eddie here with him. But hearing Eddie talk he knew it wouldn’t be the case, and that was helping that little seed of doubt that they could make this relationship work grow.

They talked a little while longer as they entered Joe’s neighborhood and found themselves at the front door of his foster father’s house.

“I’m sure Iris is gonna flip when she sees you here,” Barry joked.

Eddie laughed quietly to himself. “I’m still surprised you didn’t tell her that I was coming. I hope that won’t make her or your foster dad uncomfortable.”

“Nah. They’ll be fine.”

Barry fished around in his pocket for the key to the house and opened the door, immediately getting hit with the mouth-watering scent of Joe’s lasagna baking in the oven.

“Joe, Iris, I’m here, and I brought company!” he called out. Joe and Iris both came out of the kitchen and both immediately froze when they saw Eddie standing beside him.

“Oh my God, Prince Eddie… I didn’t know you were here,” Iris finally said after a brief moment of silence. She walked up to both of them while Barry shut the door and locked it behind them. “Umm—welcome to our house,” she added.

“Thank you, Iris. I hope I’m not intruding or anything. I came in for a surprise visit, and Barry invited me to dinner with you all.”

“No. Not at all. Dad always makes way too much lasagna, so the more the merrier.”

Eddie and Iris surprisingly fell into an easy conversation while Barry walked over to Joe to check on him. He knew Joe wasn’t a huge fan of surprises, so bringing a foreign prince to their family dinner wasn’t exactly the brightest move on his part.

“So, you’re not mad are you?” he asked.

“Bar, let’s talk in the kitchen,” Joe directed.

Barry sighed, but followed him into the kitchen where Joe pulled the lasagna out of the oven before turning to Barry with a stern, but not angry look which Barry was slightly thankful for.

“So what’s up?” Barry asked.

“You tell me. First you’ve been dejected for the few weeks at work, then when Iris finally tells me that you’ve been getting depressed over not seeing Eddie and were considering breaking it off, he shows up at my door with you for family night.”

“Look, Joe, I know I’ve been off lately, but he’s here and he’s trying. This is the only free time he’s had in weeks and he came here to visit me,” Barry quickly defended.

“Bar, I get that. But what happens when he leaves again? Maybe now it’s not as bad, but what if the next time he leaves it’s for three months, and then after that six months. Before you know it, Bar, you won’t see or hear from him for a year,” Joe chided.

Barry swallowed down the growing lump in his throat. He knew Joe was right, but he didn’t want nor need to ruin what little bit of time with Eddie he had left.

“Joe—I know. I just—I just want to enjoy dinner and this weekend with him before I have to make that decision.”

“Bar, you know I want the best for you. I just know the longer you let this go on, the greater the chance is that you get hurt.”

Before Barry or Joe could get another word in, Iris and Eddie both came into the kitchen, and Barry and Joe immediately straightened up, doing their best to lighten the expressions on their faces.

“Everything alright?” Iris asked unsure.

“Oh yeah. Joe and I were just catching up.” Neither Eddie nor Iris seemed convinced, and Barry turned to Joe for support.

“So who’s ready for lasagna? The garlic bread should be done in just a minute,” Joe said with a feigned grin.

That seemed to bring a smile to Iris and Eddie’s faces, and Iris went to set the dining room table while Joe carried out the lasagna, leaving Eddie and Barry alone in the kitchen.

“Are you sure everything is alright, Bar?” Eddie asked, his smile falling again.

Barry nodded. “It’s fine, Eddie. I promise. C’mon, let’s go sit down.”

Eddie sighed, but put on another smile for Barry, taking the hand Barry offered for him, and leading him out to the dining room table.

Iris had the table set out for everyone, and Joe was getting everything set out, including the bottle of wine which Barry figured he was definitely going to need before tonight’s dinner was over.

 

● ● ●

 

The dinner had progressed fairly well, or at least it had to Barry. Joe made no mention of the conversation they’d had earlier and was all smiles, even asking Eddie questions to get to know him a bit better. Iris was her usual jovial self all smiles and excitement that she had a prince eating dinner in her living room. And Eddie seemed to be enjoying himself as well, smiling and listening to all the stories Joe and Iris shared with him about Barry. And most importantly, Eddie wasn’t further inquiring about what had gone on between him and Joe earlier.

It was moments like this that Barry wanted so badly with Eddie. But it was also these exact same moments that he wouldn’t get to have much more of. Today was just a tease of what he figured he couldn’t have. Joe’s words rang true in his head that he couldn’t truly have this, not with Eddie. The man was going to be a freaking king of a country, and Barry, well he was destined to be a CSI for the CCPD.

“So, Eddie, how long are you going to be in town for?” Iris asked, a question that surprisingly hadn’t been brought up until now.

Eddie finished the gulp of wine before turning to Iris with a slightly buzzed smile.

“I took the weekend off to come here and see Barry, so I’ll have to be back on Monday for more—training I guess you can call it,” Eddie answered.

“How is it going, preparing to be a king and all?” she continued.

“It’s been going great.” Barry could hear the false enjoyment in his tone, but he knew that Eddie was caught between a rock and a hard place. He couldn’t go around telling everyone he hated it, or didn’t want it. Seeing how much he didn’t care for the throne made him feel guiltier about his realization that they wouldn’t work out.

“I actually found out right before I came here that my family is actually preparing me to take the throne earlier than we’d initially expected.”

Everyone at the table slowed down their eating, Barry especially because that just didn’t sound like it was going to be good for them.

“That’s great,” Joe cheered, looking directly at Barry. “When are they thinking you’ll take over?”

Eddie hesitated turning to Barry before letting out a deep breath. “They feel that things are going so well that they might be able to move forward with it next year.”

Barry nearly choked on the wine he’d drank, earning concerned looks from everyone at the table. He couldn’t really notice them as his mind was starting to race a mile a minute again.

Why didn’t Eddie tell him about this when they first got here? And now knowing this, Joe was probably right. If they were looking at moving his coronation up to next  year then this would be probably the last time he’d see Eddie for a very long time, if ever again.

“Bar, you alright?” Joe asked.

“Oh—uh—yeah. I—uh—just started feeling a little off is all.” He stood up from the table, and backed away for a minute. “I’m just gonna run upstairs and take a minute to catch my breath.”

He didn’t bother to look at Eddie because he was sure the man could easily tell what the problem was, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to have that conversation with him.

He escaped upstairs and closed the door to what his on and off again bedroom, and collapsed on the bed. He wasn’t sure why he thought the comfort of the bed would help his situation, but he was quickly realizing that it wasn’t helping the real problem at hand. That problem, of course, was the fact that he was going to have to tell Eddie the truth; the truth that there wasn’t any hope left for their relationship anymore. Their relationship officially had a timer on it, and that was a year if even that.

He knew that he couldn’t leave Central City even if Eddie had begged him. He’d miss Iris and Joe too much. He hadn’t even had a chance to introduce Eddie to his father yet. He had a life here that he couldn’t leave behind even if it was to be with Eddie.

He groaned into the pillow and figured he’d give himself a solid five minutes or so to wallow before going back downstairs.

That plan of course was ruined when he heard several light knocks at the door.

“Come in,” he mumbled.

The door opened and closed, and Barry looked back to see Eddie walking in, slowly approaching the bed, and looking—hurt.

“How are you feeling, Bar?”

Barry took a deep breath and put on a fake smile. “I’m better, Eddie. I just needed a minute that’s all.”

Eddie swallowed and nodded. “Barry… I was looking for the right time to tell you about it, but I didn’t want to ruin the day. It’s been amazing, and I didn’t want you to be hurt, and for us to have to have the conversation that we both know has been coming.”

Barry averted his eyes from Eddie’s gaze, knowing full well he’d see the resignation and hurt in them. He just needed to fake a little bit longer. He didn’t want to have this conversation here. Not with Joe and Iris nearby. He just needed to get home first.

“Eddie, I get it. I think we should just enjoy the time we have left before you leave.”

Eddie seemed conflicted, but Barry smiled and got out of the bed.

“What you do say we just go home and spend of the rest of the evening there?”

If Eddie had any doubts, he swallowed them down and instead grinned as best as he could, and nodded slightly.

“Sure. Whatever you want to do, Bar.”

Together they walked back downstairs and were met with Joe and Iris’ concerned glances.

“Everything alright?” Iris asked.

“Yeah. I just got a little tired, and I’m not feeling all that great, so I think Eddie and I are going to head back to my place for the night,” Barry answered.

Joe seemed puzzled, but Barry had a feeling he knew the truth. “You sure you two don’t want to stay for movies and ice cream?” the man offered.

Eddie smiled, but shook his head. “Thank you, Mr. West, but I think I’ll take Barry back and make sure he’s alright.”

“Call me Joe,” he supplied before walking up to shake Eddie’s hand. “Next time you’re in town I expect you to stay for the full family dinner experience.”

“I will definitely take you up on that, Joe,” Eddie answered.

Barry went to hug Iris though she still seemed concerned given the sad expression in her eyes.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Barry?” she murmured.

“I’m fine, Iris. I’ll call you tomorrow,” he replied. Iris nodded, and Barry moved to hug Joe before he and Eddie made their way out of Joe’s house and back down the street to his apartment. A chilly wind blew overhead and Barry folded his arms, tucking his hands underneath his arm pits for warmth.

He and Eddie walked back in silence, words struggling to come to mind to say, especially after the family dinner had changed so drastically and in such a short period of time. Every time he would look to Eddie, the prince had that look like he wanted to just tell Barry everything but he would quickly fix his composure and the look would fade until the next moment he figured Barry wasn’t looking.

Maybe this was for the best. Maybe they could just have this last moment together, and when Eddie left, it wouldn’t need to be said. They wouldn’t have to look each other in the face and say that this thing they had was over and they’d never see each other again.

Maybe there would be less pain that way for both of them.

He knew that wouldn’t be the case at all, but it never hurt to believe.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next to last chapter! This one is definitely angsty, but I promise this fic ends happily! You have to have a chapter full of a lot of angst at least haha. Also there is NSFW times in here as well. So I hope you enjoy! Next chapter concludes the fic!

They didn’t talk at all about the bombshell Eddie had dropped at dinner last night. It seemed to be some silent agreement that for the next several hours they wouldn’t say a word about it because that meant they had to face making a decision on what the future of their relationship would be, or the fact that there didn’t seem to be a future.

That’s how they ended up on the couch all night, watching old movies on TV, sitting in each other’s embrace instead. At some point when they both had gotten too tired to keep their eyes open they bumbled their way back to his bed.

At first they had tried to start something, Eddie kissing his neck in all that right spots that got Barry hard and wanting, and eventually Barry had returned the kisses eagerly, devouring Eddie’s mouth. But exhaustion at repressing their feelings had taken a lot more out of the both of them and before they knew it, they woke up to the first rays of the early Sunday morning sun, half-naked and mess of tangled limbs.

“Mmm, what time is it?” Barry mumbled as he groggily opened his eyes next to a stirring Eddie.

Eddie stretched and yawned before turning to Barry with a smile. “Not sure. I hope this doesn’t sound bad, but I hope time just stops forever so I can spend more time seeing you like this.”

Barry laughed sleepily, and reached for his phone that had been tossed on the floor with all of his clothes except his boxers which were still on.

When he looked over on the nightstand he saw Eddie’s phone was flashing, and he grabbed it before handing it back to a puzzled Eddie.

“It was flashing, so I didn’t know if it was important.”

Eddie sat up on the bed and looked at his phone before pressing a few buttons and holding the phone to his ear. Barry could only make out a few words being said as Eddie listened to a voice message left for him, but his attention immediately drifted to Eddie’s falling expression.

He put the phone down and got out of the bed with one quick, surprisingly angry move.

“Are you okay?” Barry asked.

Eddie turned back to him and sighed before plastering on another false smile. “I’m fine, Bar. I’m just going to make a few quick phone calls.” With that Eddie disappeared into the living room, closing the door behind him. Barry almost wanted to listen in, but he knew better than to do that, mostly because he already felt like he knew what the call would be about.

Last night they spent the entire time avoiding the conversation that needed to be had. Eddie was going to be king, and that meant he and Barry had to decide if they could make this relationship work, which basically meant was Barry willing to move away from his home, family, friends, everything for Eddie. And then there was always the possibility that it wouldn’t work out and then he’d be in Gedova alone.

He didn’t dwell on the thoughts too long and instead just lied in bed, listening to the faint mumble of Eddie’s voice from the living room.

He debated getting up and moving around, but before he could make the first move, the door opened and Eddie slunk inside, a mixture of anger and confusion swirling around in his bright, blue eyes.

“What’s going on?” Barry asked, sitting up a little.

Eddie seemed to struggle finding the words to say, and he looked like he was ready to punch something and subsequently break down at the same time.

“I—have to go back to Gedova today instead of tomorrow. They want me back as soon as possible.”

Barry swallowed, but he wasn’t surprised. After last night, it was inevitable that something would come up.

“Hey, I get it. Important prince stuff,” he replied with a laugh. He paused and looked away from Eddie for a minute before looking back at him. “When’s the next time you’ll be able to come back?”

The question seemed to knock the wind out of Eddie somehow, and the man hesitated before turning back to him.

“I can’t lie to you, Bar. It’s gonna be a very long time before I can, and next time I do—I can’t promise I’d have time to see you for long if at all.”

There was a tear falling down Eddie’s cheek now, and Barry knew that Eddie’s words were the final nail in the coffin. He would’ve cried too, but more than anything he didn’t want what he figured was their last moment together to be sad. If this was it for them, at least they could have one last good memory.

“Before you go… one last time?” he asked.

Eddie smiled and nodded through the tears that were still falling down his cheek. Barry smiled and motioned for Eddie to join him on the bed, and Eddie did so falling in between Barry’s legs before Barry pulled him into a kiss, tasting the salt of the tears that seemed to stop after a few moments.

The kiss was slow and deep, both he and Eddie kissing every inch of each other’s mouths knowing it would be the last time they did. Slow kisses quickly became desperate as their hands roamed and caressed every inch of each other’s bodies, and an urge for this feeling to never end fell over them.  

“Barry,” Eddie murmured so tenderly that Barry felt like he could hear Eddie’s heartbreaking through his voice. Barry swallowed and smiled letting his lips connect with Eddie’s again before letting his fingers hook underneath the band of Eddie’s boxers and push them down. Eddie moved his kisses down from Barry’s lips, kissing and nipping at the skin of his neck and collarbone while Barry breathed harder and let his hands roam across Eddie’s ass.

God he was going to miss this, even though they’d only had it briefly.

“Lay back for me, Bar,” Eddie whispered. Barry nodded and did as he was told, lying back completely so that Eddie was towering over him. Eddie’s hands hooked around the rim of his boxers as well, and Barry wiggled to help Eddie get them free. Eventually Eddie tossed them to the floor along with his own, and Barry was immediately met with the pressure and feel of their two cocks pressed together as Eddie rubbed against him, kissing his way down again.

Barry let his fingers sift through Eddie’s hair as Eddie planted a string of kisses down his torso, drawing moans from Barry when he flicked Barry’s nipples with his tongue a few times. Barry recoiled a bit when he heard Eddie groan as his fingers tightened their grip in his hair, but Eddie didn’t seem to mind at all, instead continuing to kiss his way down Barry’s body to his navel.

Eddie spread Barry’s thighs apart and kissed in the inside of them, and Barry felt the tickle and sensation travel up his body, sending a shiver of pure bliss through his body.

“Eddie—please,” he begged. He wanted more from Eddie—wanted to feel him in every way possible for one last time.

Eddie nodded with a gentle smile, and Barry pointed him towards the nightstand again where Eddie fished around inside one of the drawers for the lube, pulling the bottle out along with a condom.

Eddie dropped them on the bed before leaning down to kiss him again, their cocks pressed together again and beads of precome starting to slide down the shaft both his and Eddie’s cocks.

“I want you to fuck me, Bar,” Eddie quietly murmured in Barry’s ear.

Barry would’ve been more surprised but he was so focused on not coming from Eddie rubbing up against him the way he was now.

“Are you sure, Eddie?”

“I’m positive. Please.”

Hearing the almost desperation in his plea made Barry swallow. He nodded lightly and reached for the lube and condom on the bed. Eddie returned to kissing him which made it harder for his hands to stop shaking enough to open the condom wrapper. Eventually he was able to open the wrapper and Eddie pulled back from kissing him, and smiled before lying down on his back, grabbing the bottle of lube and flipping the cap on it.

Barry watched carefully as Eddie slicked up his fingers before circling his hole and letting a finger sink inside slowly.

“C’mon, Bar. I need you inside me,” Eddie murmured as he let his finger sink further inside him before pulling it out slightly.

Barry watched as Eddie’s face turned red and he groaned at the pleasure, and it made his cock ache with need to be inside him. He fumbled with the condom, rolling it on as quick as he could without breaking it, and grabbed the bottle of lube that lied beside Eddie, who was lost in bliss as he added another finger and was stretching himself open even more.

“Jesus—Eddie—you look amazing,” he breathed.

Eddie breathily laughed at that and slowly pulled his fingers out as a signal to Barry that he was ready.

Barry scrambled to lube up his hands before slowly slicking his cock up until he heard a grunt of impatience from the prince. In the lust of all of this, he had forgotten that they were on a time limit, but he also didn’t want to remember that either.

Grabbing a pillow, he positioned it underneath Eddie elevating his ass just enough that it was level with Barry’s cock. Barry fit himself in between his legs and lined himself up with Eddie’s stretched hole, hearing a groan from Eddie as he slowly pushed inside.

“C’mon, Bar. All the way—please.”

Hearing Eddie beg stripped the last little bit of self-control that he had and Barry let himself sink all the way inside Eddie, the breath being stripped from him as he embraced the heat surrounding his cock. Eddie was so tight, his ass clenching around Barry as if to tie them together forever and Barry had to breathe to stop the onset urge to come.

“You still with me, Bar?” Eddie urged, smiling.

“Yeah—yeah. I just—God, I don’t want this to end, Eddie,” Barry murmured.

Eddie just continued to smile and breathe. “Me neither, Bar.”

For some reason hearing that pushed Barry to move, and slowly he thrust himself into Eddie. His movements were shaky and uncoordinated at first, instead too focused on Eddie, but slowly he found a steady rhythm. Eddie was a mess of moans and praises with his legs half wrapped around Barry as he leaned over to push their lips together again.

“You’re so perfect, Eddie,” Barry breathed as their lips remained gently pressed together.

“Yeah?” Eddie murmured.

Every time they would whisper praises to one another, Barry felt a pang of sadness. This would probably be the last time they could have each other like this, hear each other whisper tender adorations like this.

Eddie’s hands dug into his back as he continued to thrust into him harder. Eddie tenderly nipped at Barry’s lips as they kissed heavily, and Barry gripped the bed tightly as he felt his orgasm fast approaching again. He watched as Eddie hurriedly reached for his cock, jerking in near rhythm with Barry who was now fucking into him without abandon.

The room was filled with their gasps, moans, and groans, neither of them caring how loud they were, and it only grew worse as Barry could feel Eddie’s body start to convulse and shake as his orgasm ripped through him. Soon Eddie was spilling all over his chest with a loud groan, and Barry felt his ass clench tighter around him.

“God—fuck—Eddie—” Barry growled before he was coming inside Eddie. He let his body collapse and drape over top of Eddie and burying his face in the crook of Eddie’s neck, not caring about the mess of come that coated Eddie’s chest. They stayed like that for a few moments, the silence speaking volumes for them as they knew what came next.

Barry reluctantly pulled out of Eddie, discarding the condom in the trash bin by his bed before lying next to him. He felt Eddie fingers card through his sweaty hair, and he felt himself getting tired again for some reason.

“Bar—that was perfect,” Eddie praised.

Barry grinned and laughed. “It was.”

Silence filled the air again as neither of them wanted to talk about what came next. For another several moments they sat in silence until Eddie finally sat up, and Barry looked up at him to see an irritated almost angry expression.

“I know it’s not the most ideal situation, Barry, but I’ll hate myself for the rest of my life if I at least don’t ask once,” he started. Barry sat up and swallowed in anticipation of whatever question Eddie was about to ask him. “Bar, will you come with me to Gedova? You can live with me in the manor with me, and I’ll make sure you’re taken care of and everything. I’ll give you anything you need. I just don’t—I don’t want this to be over.”

Barry felt his breath get caught in his throat and he didn’t know if he was going to choke or throw up. In hindsight, he should’ve seen the question coming. Iris had even asked him the question before. But for some reason his mind didn’t want to fathom the possibility that Eddie would ask. But here they were.

“Eddie—I—” he paused, trying to get the words to move past his throat no matter how badly they didn’t want to. Eddie stared at him intently, a small glimmer of hope shimmering in his eyes, and Barry felt even more guilty for what he was about to say. “I can’t.”

Eddie swallowed and Barry felt his heart break watching Eddie smile through the rejection.

“I want to so badly,” Barry immediately added. “But—I have everyone and everything here. Iris, Joe, my dad even if he’s in prison right now. I can’t leave them behind. Eddie, I love you, but I don’t know that I can be the person that you need me to be if you’re going to be a king.”

Eddie smiled and laughed in the most heartbreaking way possible, and he didn’t try to hold back the few tears that started to fall down his cheek.

“Of course. I can’t ask you to sacrifice everything for me. I’ve already made you do that once.”

“Eddie, you haven’t made me—”

“It’s fine, Bar. I know that it was wrong of me to ask you that because I know I made you feel guilty. But I want you to know that none of this was your fault, and I love you, alright?”

Barry felt the sting of the first few tears forming, and breathed to try and stifle them, but to no avail, especially as Eddie stood up from the bed and found his clothes.

“Eddie, wait. You’re not leaving yet are you?”

Eddie nodded. “I’m sure my ride his here, and… it’s best that I leave now. The longer I stay, the more pain we’ll just cause each other, and I don’t want that for you, Barry.”

Barry sat down and watched through watery eyes as Eddie dressed, and gathered everything into the one bag he’d brought with him. He was still too numb to move to put his own clothes on, but that seemed to be what Eddie wanted.

When Eddie looked as put together as he possibly could, given the circumstances, he walked towards the door, but not before leaning down and kissing Barry one last time, a kiss so sad and pained that it made Barry feel sick. He stood and flashed another bright smile that belied the pain he was feeling inside.

“Bar, I want you to know that I love you and—I always will. Take care of yourself.”

He felt the damn burst and the tears started flowing down his cheeks as he watched and listened to Eddie leave the apartment, but he couldn’t move to see him out. So instead, he just sat in the bed and let all the emotions he’d repressed for so long out. All the anger, sadness, everything came pouring out of him in the tears that fell down is face, and he wasn’t sure when he’d ever be okay again.

 

● ● ●

 

Routine was probably the only thing keeping Barry sane now after everything that had happened with Eddie. Without it, he wasn’t sure he’d be a fully functional person now if at all.

At first it had started out with him refusing to leave his apartment, calling in sick to work and using up almost all the vacation time he surprisingly still had stored up.

He knew the cases back at the CCPD were starting to fall behind and Singh wasn’t in a position to keep approving Barry’s request for days off without having to hire a new forensic scientist which is how Joe and Iris got involved and went to his apartment and saw the dismal state he was in.

It turned out one week of wallowing in misery had turned him into a pathetic mess fairly quickly. Showering had stopped altogether, and he was lucky if he was able to stay out of bed for more than an hour, and that was either to eat what he could rummage out of his refrigerator or go to the bathroom.

Of course, he told Joe and Iris everything about the silent acknowledgement that he and Eddie were done, and about Eddie’s last minute plea for Barry to move to Gedova. Both of them were sympathetic, but Joe had to be firm with him because his job was on the line again.

Luckily, his lease was up for renewal which worked out well for him, and after talking with Joe about it for a day or so, he turned down his lease and decided to move back in with the two of them. It was for the best as both Joe and Iris were the only two people that kept him from regressing back to his miserable, depressed state.

The moment Eddie had left, he’d heard nothing from the prince. He figured he wouldn’t as re-opening that line of communication again would just hurt them even more. But it didn’t stop him from checking his phone when it vibrated to see if that was him, and even though he tried to convince himself that it was a good thing it wasn’t, he just couldn’t seem to make himself truly believe it.

One week turned to two weeks which then turned to almost two months of no Eddie.

Now he was back into a decent routine again: wake up, go to work with Joe, lunch, sometimes with Joe and Iris and other times alone, go home, TV and dinner with the family, and then bed before the cycle repeated.

It was alright for now. It kept his mind off Eddie for the most part, but thoughts would slip in here and there, and he was always left wondering how he was doing. Was he okay? Was he going to be happy? Was he just as upset and heartbroken? Those questions haunted his brain for hours on end sometimes until a new distraction would inevitably pull him from those thoughts.

This was his life now. It wasn’t the one he wanted though as it was always missing a blond-haired, bright smiled prince in it.

Today was just another day as well. He was sitting at his desk reading over the last wave of reports he had left to fill out before the day was over, and he figured with just another few minutes he’d actually be done with all his reports for the week before lunch, a rarity for him.

“Bar!” Joe yelled out as he heard him ascend the stairs to his lab.

Barry turned to see Joe walking into the lab, not looking irritated for the first time in a while as he always seemed to be slammed with some new case or cases lately.

“Hey, Joe,” he greeted.

Joe immediately looked at the stack of files that were in the ready-to-go bin that he had for the detectives and officers when they were waiting for results.

“Wow, you got all that done before the week was over?”

Barry laughed and finished signing off on the report in front of him. “Yeah. That’s what happens when you don’t have any more distractions.”

He didn’t mean to sound as frustrated and cynical as he did, but if anyone knew what he was going through it was Joe. Thankfully, he didn’t react at all to his comment and instead put a hand reassuringly on his shoulder.

“You’ve been working yourself too hard, Bar. You should call it a day and head home early.”

“Oh—no—it’s fine, Joe. Working on case files keeps me busy and keeps my mind from wandering elsewhere.”

He heard Joe sigh, but he continued on to another lab report, writing notes and signing off on it while Joe just quietly observed.

“Have you heard from him at all?” Joe finally asked.

“Nope. Not a word,” he answered, probably a little too quickly. “But I think it’s best for both of us. We can’t be together, so it’s best to not try and pretend we can.”

Joe pulled up a chair from his desk and sat beside Barry, and he could tell that he and Joe were about to have one of Joe’s heart-to-heart talks that while a little intense usually were good for him. It was just one of the many reasons he and Joe were so close. He turned to his foster father whose expression was pensive.

“Bar—look—I know you’re upset, and I just can’t help but feel that maybe I wasn’t as supportive as I should’ve been. So, I’m sorry for that.”

“Joe… you were just looking out for me, and preparing for the fact that Eddie and I were sort of doomed from the start,” Barry replied.

“Still, I just feel like I could’ve been more supportive. You know, you and Iris are the most important things in my life, and I should be supporting you two more than I have.” Barry smiled and laughed, and that seemed to lighten Joe up a little bit.

“I get it, Joe, and I’ve never felt like you haven’t. You’ve been there for me ever since my dad went to prison. I mean you are another dad to me, and I know you’ve always got my back.”

Joe smiled brightly at that, but Barry could sense something was still bothering him. “I just have to ask, Bar… do you regret not going to Gedova with him?”

Barry thought long and hard on this question, and the truth was that it was a question that had plagued him ever since Eddie had left. But sitting here with Joe now, thinking on the question he was starting to realize how sure he was of his decision.

“I don’t. Central City is my life, and as much as I care about Eddie, I couldn’t imagine my life without you and Iris in it.”

That brought a genuine smile to Joe’s face, and in turn Barry felt his own smile grow. Joe and Iris were his family now, and he wasn’t going to ever abandon them.

“I just want to make sure you’re doing what you want with your life, Bar. Not what me or anyone else wants.”

Barry nodded and put a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “I promise that everything I’ve done has been what I’ve wanted Joe. And I think what I want is to kick your ass in football over pizza and a beer tonight.”

Joe laughed hard at that and Barry was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel again. He would’ve given anything to keep Eddie here with him, but at the same time, he was starting to be happy here again. As long as he had Joe and Iris, he figured he’d be just fine.

“So, back to my original reason for coming up here. Take the rest of the afternoon off, Bar. Go home, relax, and get prepared for me to kick _your_ ass kicked in football tonight,” Joe beamed.

Barry laughed and picked up the pen on his desk again. “Alright, alright. You convinced me. I’ll just finish these last few reports then I’ll head out.”

Joe slapped him on the back a few times before walking back downstairs and Barry returned to reading over his reports, a grin plastered on his face still.

The rest of the reports went by fairly quickly, only having to look over them to make sure his writing was coherent and legible before signing his name on it and putting it in the ready pile. Things were starting to look up and he now had something to look forward to that wasn’t Eddie, but that didn’t mean he wished Eddie couldn’t be here.

Eddie would’ve fit in perfectly with his life here he thought. Sure he was a prince, but Eddie was down to Earth and simple. He was someone he figured could watch Sunday afternoon football with him and Joe and enjoy a beer, or join him and Iris for coffee sometimes. But that wasn’t what happened and maybe eventually he could move on, but for now he’d be okay with just his family and his hopes.

He felt his phone start to buzz in his pocket, pulling his from his thoughts and writing. When he reached in to look at it he saw a number that he didn’t recognize flash on his screen. He stared at it for a couple of seconds before relenting and answering it.

“Hello?”

“Barry? Hi, this is Oliver Queen,” he heard Oliver’s voice come over on the other end.

He froze for a moment and pulled the smart phone back from his ear to make sure he wasn’t somehow being pranked. Surely enough, the number came up as a Starling City phone number.

“Uh—hey, Oliver,” he stuttered, wanting to hit himself for sounding so awkward.

“Is this a bad time?” Oliver asked.

“Oh—no! I just wasn’t expecting you to call me, much less have my number.”

He heard Oliver snicker at that, and he was beyond confused as to why Oliver Queen, fiancé to Eddie’s sister and a billionaire’s son was calling him of all people right now.

“I get it. I got your number from Eddie actually. I just never needed it until now,” Oliver explained.

Now he was beyond confused. Why did Oliver need his number, and why did Eddie just give it out to him?

“So… what can I do for you, Oliver?”

“I’m actually in Central City, and I wanted to see if we could get coffee at the shop where we met the first time.”

Had news of his and Eddie’s break-up not reached Oliver and Felicity yet? Maybe Eddie hadn’t said anything and hoped people just wouldn’t ask about it. Or he maybe he was just too busy to say anything about it. Being a king-in-training probably kept him too busy to talk about it anyways.

“Barry, you still there?”

“Oh—yeah. Uh, coffee sounds good, I think. When did you want to go?” Barry inquired.

“If you’re free today I’d love to see you sometime this evening, maybe around seven if that’s possible,” Oliver offered.

He wanted to tell Oliver that he’d already had plans with Joe, but it wasn’t every day that a billionaire dating your ex’s twin sister blew into town wanting to talk. And curiosity had gotten the best of him, and he was truly wondering what it was that brought Oliver in town and why he wanted to see him.

“Yeah that sounds good. I’ll—uh—see you at Jitters at seven.”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you soon, Barry.”

Oliver hung up the phone, and Barry stared at the phone once again wondering if what just happened was real life. If anything though, maybe he’d finally get some news on how Eddie was doing, and maybe hearing if he was doing well would give him the strength to move forward too.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND IT'S DONE! Here is the last chapter of this fic! It's been a lot of fun writing this and I hope you've all enjoyed it! Thanks for sticking with me on this!

Jitters was quiet thankfully with only a handful of people, including the staff, scattered about the coffee shop. When Barry walked through the door he scanned the area to look for Oliver and the found him hidden in the back, sipping from a large mug.

It had been bothering him all day about what Oliver could possibly have wanted to talk about, and for a little while he’d wondered if he should’ve just cancelled. Oliver, as unfair as it was, was someone he’d met through Eddie, and seeing Oliver now was just going to be a painful reminder of Eddie that he didn’t need. Had it not been for Joe urging him to see what Oliver wanted, he probably wouldn’t even be here.

With one last deep breath, he weaved through the tables of the restaurant until he approached Oliver who actually smiled slightly when he looked up and saw him.

“Hey, Oliver,” he greeted.

“Barry, glad you could make it,” Oliver replied.

Barry pulled out the seat opposite the man and sat down, letting his brain settle from the disbelief that he was once again sitting opposite one of the richest people in the world, or at least the son of one of the richest people in the world.

“Do you want anything? It’s on me,” he offered.

Barry smiled and shook his head. “No, I’m good, but thanks.” Oliver smiled and took another sip of his coffee, and regretfully realized he should’ve ordered something. Being in a coffee shop without ordering coffee never really worked well for him.

“You sure you don’t want something?” He could see the knowing grin playing at the corner of Oliver’s lips, and Barry knew he could tell.

“You sure you don’t mind paying?”

Oliver laughed. “Barry, I have more money than I know what to do with. Buying you a cup of coffee isn’t a problem.” Oliver waved one of the waitresses over, and Barry put in an order for his favorite Frappuccino before she walked off.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Barry finally asked, the urge to know finally breaking him.

Oliver set his mug down and folded his arms on the table in front of him, and Barry could see his grin fade slightly.

“I wanted to start off by saying I’m sorry about you and Eddie. I can’t begin to imagine what you’re both going through right now.”

Barry swallowed and huffed. “Thanks. I mean, it’s been hard without him, but I’m doing better.” Barry paused reflecting back to Eddie’s fast the moment before he left for good, and it felt like ripping the Band-Aid off a still-healing wound. “I don’t know. I just hope he’s doing okay.”

“He’s—he’s not doing all that great, to be honest.” He’d honestly figured Eddie probably wasn’t fairing too much better than he was. But he started to believe that being a king and ruling a country had given him ample distractions. Hearing Oliver say the contrary though made him feel horrible and guilty.

“I never wanted to hurt him… but I couldn’t go back to Gedova with him. I have my entire life here, and he’s going to be a king. I guess in hindsight, we were never going to work out.”

“I wouldn’t say never,” Oliver cautioned.

Barry eyed him suspiciously, but Oliver’s expression remained stoic enough that Barry couldn’t make out what was going through his head at all. When the waitress brought his coffee out, Oliver slipped her a twenty dollar bill and smiled, and Barry sat wishing he had money like that.

“You know, Felicity and I went through something similar when we first started dating.”

“You did?” Barry questioned.

Oliver smiled and nodded. “It took a few months for us to realize how much we cared about each other, and we didn’t want that to end. But… I also saw how hard it was for Felicity to stay away from her home for so long.”

“Really? I thought she was okay staying away for so long since she came to school here and never left.”

“She wanted to break free for a bit, and being here gave her that chance to. The thing is, she wanted to go back home after college, but then she got the job working for my parents company, and then she met me.”

Barry sipped on his hot coffee while listening to Oliver wondering why he was telling him all this personal information when they weren’t close at all.

“But it worked out for you both. I mean, she’s still here and you’re both engaged,” Barry said, offering a tiny smile and shrug.

Oliver seemed distracted and annoyed and Barry could almost feel it radiating off of him. “Felicity is probably one of the strongest women I know. If something was bothering her, I’d never know unless she intentionally told me, which is how I missed how homesick she’s been all these years.”

“Homesick?”

Oliver swallowed and laughed in a self-deprecating manner. “She had asked me once if I would ever consider moving to Gedova, and I said no almost immediately. At the time, all I could think about was the fact that I was going to be CEO of Queen Consolidated. I couldn’t just leave the U.S. and move for love.”

“How did she take it?” Barry nervously asked, seeing some of the scary similarities between his and Eddie’s situation.

“After that, Felicity never asked me again. It took me a long time to realize that she was hiding how she felt because of me. She didn’t want me to feel guilty for her missing being home, so instead I made her unintentionally feel trapped by having to stay here to be with me.”

“So… is everything okay between you two? I mean, she’s not here, and you are.”

Oliver took another sip of his coffee and his expression hardened into something serious now, and seeing Oliver’s hard, blue eyes bore into him intimidated him a little.

“Barry, I just have to ask you one thing, if you could have Eddie back here right now, would you be happy with him?”

The question caught him completely off-guard, and he struggled to think for several moments. He glanced up at Oliver but had to look elsewhere when his intense stare made him feel even more put on the spot. But then he thought of Eddie, and how much he missed the little bit of time that they were able to share together.

In hindsight, it seemed extremely unconventional for him to feel the way he did about Eddie. They had known each other for only a few months, and most of it was spent talking and chatting online. But the times he was here, and they touch, hold, and feel each other… it reaffirmed everything he felt for the man. Even now, thinking about if he could have Eddie back in his life, he felt a longing in his chest that grew stronger the longer he held those thoughts.

He turned back to Oliver with a tentative smile, and laughed a little. “Yeah, I would. I can’t remember a time I wasn’t happy to see him or hear his voice, and—and I’d give almost anything to have him back.”

Oliver seemed to contemplate his words for a moment, but a gentle smile spread across his lips as he took another sip from his mug of coffee.

“Well, then I guess there’s no turning back then, not that we could anyways,” Oliver said, which made no sense to Barry.

“Wait, what do you mean there’s no turning back?”

“Barry, have you seen the news at all today?”

Barry shook his head, but fished his phone out of his pocket before pulling up the news app on his phone. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he kept scrolling and refreshing until the link to an article popped out at him.

_Queen Consolidated merging with foreign investment banking firm in Gedova. CEO, Oliver Queen, to relocate._

He looked back up at Oliver puzzled and confused by the news, but Oliver seemed content and completely unfazed.

“You’re moving to Gedova? I know you said Felicity was homesick, but I thought you said you had to stay here for the company.”

Oliver shook his head and smiled. “Being a CEO is okay, Barry, but it’s not worth losing someone I love over. Besides I can tele-conference in from wherever. My sleep schedule will be messed up for a fair amount of time, but I’ll get used to it.”

Barry just stared at him, still not sure what was happening.

“What about Felicity? I guess she’ll be helping out at the company or with her family.”

“Felicity has her hands full right now. Listening to her rant this morning, I think learning how to be queen was a lot more frustrating than she thought.”

This time Barry nearly choked on the coffee in his mouth and struggled not to spit it back out all over the table. Oliver though was just… smiling at him. He obvious knew what was going on, and he enjoyed slowly revealing it to him.

“Wait… did you say Felicity is going to be queen?” he rasped.

Oliver nodded. “Felicity and I talked, and I think it’s time I sacrifice some for her happiness. At the same time, she and Eddie… well they’re twins so it’s impossible for them not to want to help each other.  At least for me, getting out of the U.S. for a bit and moving to Gedova to marry the future queen sounds a bit like a vacation.”

“But—if Felicity is going to be queen… what about Eddie?” he asked.

“It’s not my place to say, Barry.” Barry grumbled a little, but stopped when Oliver continued to smirk as though he was getting some satisfaction out of Barry’s frustration. His momentary anger subsided when Oliver, leaned forward in his seat, and his blue eyes seemed to hone in on him again. “I just want you to do one last thing for me, Barry.”

His nerves were raised and he for some reason he seemed nervous and worried about whatever was about to be asked of him.

“Sure, what is it?”

“I know I’ve told you this once before, but I wanted to ask you again. Don’t give up on you and Eddie just yet. Just hold on a little bit longer, and I promise it’ll get better.” If it wasn’t bad enough that Oliver had asked him to hang on to someone and something that he was so close to being ready to move on from, it was made worse by the almost pleading tone in Oliver’s voice.

“I—I don’t know, Oliver. I mean… Eddie and I… we haven’t talked in so long. I honestly don’t think I can hold out much more hope that this will get better,” he sighed.

Oliver didn’t seem convinced if his disapproving glare was anything to go by, and Barry just wished Oliver would spit out whatever was going on.

“Barry, if you still love Eddie and you have any hope that maybe you two could ever work out then just hang on to that. But if you truly feel that you two are over, then I can’t hold it against you for wanting to move on. I just want you and Eddie to both be happy, whether it’s together or not.”

Barry had to choke back a snort of disbelief. It was hard to imagine that Oliver wanted him, a virtual stranger, to be happy as compared to his fiancé’s twin brother. But the sincerity in Oliver’s request made him hopeful that maybe something was truly in the works.

The question now was, if Eddie wasn’t currently in Gedova preparing to take the throne, then just where the hell was he, and what was he planning to do with himself now?”

“Alright. If that’s what you want then I can do that at least,” Barry conceded.

“I don’t want you to do it for me. I want you to do it because it’s what you want for yourself,” Oliver bemoaned.

Barry huffed and fidgeted with the coffee mug in his hands. “I know, and part of me does want this. But part of me is still reeling from the pain of trying so hard to believe this would all work out just to get let down. It’s that same part of me that’s shocked that I’m even sitting here with you right now.”

Oliver chuckled quietly, again seemingly amused by something he’d said. “It’s fine to have those doubts. Trust me, there were plenty of times where I had those same thoughts to.”

Barry lurched back into his and let his shoulders fall. “So how did you handle it?”

“I listened to my instincts which told me to stay with Felicity because I loved her. If you listen to yours, I promise you’ll make the right decision for yourself regardless of what happens.”

The advice wasn’t what he’d expected to hear from Oliver at all, but it was just what he needed to hear. He had to listen to his instincts, and to do that he just needed some time alone.

“Thanks, Oliver—for everything. I think I know what to do,” he said.

Oliver smiled contently and nodded. “No problem. And just know, whatever your instincts tell you to do, I’ll support you. I know you probably think I’m making this up, but I mean it. If you ever need any advice, feel free to call me.”

Barry felt his lips smile wider than he had in over a month, and feelings of hope had started to flourish inside him even more than yesterday.

“One last thing before you go, Barry.”

Barry looked up at Oliver and eyed his suspiciously.

“If you’re instincts tell you to do so, you should go to the waterfront tomorrow evening around six.”

Barry quirked an eyebrow at him curiously. “Any reason why?”

Oliver smiled and shook his head. “Just a suggestion—if you’re interested.”

He stared back at Oliver for a moment before relenting and nodding. He wasn’t sure what his instincts were telling him to do yet, but Oliver’s advice gave him a reason to at least start trusting what the voice in the back of his head told him to do. Even if this was all for nothing, he figured he at least could feel better about himself if he held on to his feelings for Eddie for a just a little bit longer.

 

● ● ●

 

Telling Iris and Joe what had happened with Oliver was surprisingly easy. They were just as shocked as he was to find out that Felicity had taken over as the ruler-in-training instead of Eddie. When he told them about Oliver’s last suggestion about going to the waterfront, Iris was all on-board for him going, having a strong feeling that Eddie most likely would be there.

Joe, however, wasn’t as excited. When he pulled him aside for a few moments, Joe reminded him to make sure this was what he wanted, and that he was ready to re-open the wound that was just starting to heal with this whole Eddie situation.

Overall, though they were supportive, it hadn’t helped his decision making at all, and he spent all night and all day Saturday thinking on the question of what he wanted to do.

What if Eddie came back? What did that mean for their relationship, and what were the odds that something would come between them again? Their break-up had effectively destroyed him for the better part of a month. If Eddie was back again, he wasn’t sure he could say yes to him without knowing he would be here to stay.

Eventually, he followed the instinctual voice in the back of his mind which is how he found himself outside sitting on a bench out in the park beside the waterfront, the sky cloudy and grey overhead signaling rain coming. It was a few minutes past six, and he could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance.

The park was quiet, nothing but a few people walking their dogs still around, except for him. The approaching storm most likely chased everyone there away and kept anyone else from coming. It weirdly enough made him feel more alone in the park.

He check his watch and phone a couple of times, even sending Oliver a text to tell him he’d decided to come, but nothing had happened. Iris had texted him to see if Eddie had shown up, but he just let it sit in anticipation that he’d hopefully be able to text her back some good news.

But now it was twenty minutes past six, and there wasn’t a sign of Eddie or even Oliver, and the storm was rapidly approaching as the wind picked up a bit.

“Just a few more minutes,” he muttered to himself. He could wait. He wanted this. He just hoped Eddie had wanted it as badly too.

Eddie had the most to lose. He’d given up ruling his home country to Felicity, and he wasn’t even sure it was because of him. Maybe Eddie’s decision for giving up his title had nothing to do with him at all. Maybe Oliver was wrong.

Another rumble of thunder startled him out of his wandering thoughts, and he realized it was best to just go. If he waited any longer he’d get drenched and he still had the bus to catch to get home.

He and started walking back through the park, dejected, tired, and angry that he even wasted his time coming. Part of him wanted to yell at the person who was running opposite him, jacket hunched over his shoulders most likely to shield his head from the blowing wind a droplets of rain, but that wouldn’t have made him feel better in the slightest.

Weirdly enough, as he got closer to the man with the jacket pulled over his head, Barry could better see something familiar about the man. His shoulders were broad and he was roughly the same height as Eddie. All he needed to do was see his face. The man stopped when he was only a few feet away from Barry, and Barry just curiously stared back at him until the jacket fell, and he could see Eddie’s face and messy blond hair underneath.

Barry wasn’t sure he was even breathing, instead so focused on the shock on Eddie’s face that he wasn’t sure any part of his body was functioning. Eddie seemed to be more or less in the exact same state, his mouth hanging slightly open as his eyes raked up and down Barry’s body as if to validate that this was real.

“Barry?” Eddie asked.

“Eddie… I can’t believe you’re actually here,” he replied back.

Eddie took a hesitant step forward and Barry just swallowed but let his lips form a meek smile. Before he knew it Eddie was slamming into him, engulfing him in a hug so tight with his arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. Barry let his arms wrap around the middle of Eddie’s back, taking in the fact that Eddie was indeed right here in front of him.

“Bar, do you know how much I’ve missed you?” Eddie muttered in his ear.

Barry couldn’t help but laugh now enraptured by the sound of Eddie’s raspy voice in his ear.

“God, I missed you too, Eddie,” he laughed.

They pulled back, staring at each other again while ignoring the clap of thunder and flash of lightning somewhere behind them.

“I’m sorry I’m so late, Barry. I—haven’t had much experience lately driving a car on my own, so it took me a while to figure it out again. I swear I didn’t cause an accident or anything,” he joked.

“You drove here?” Barry asked incredulously.

Eddie nodded. “I left the airport as soon as I could to get here. I wasn’t even sure you would come or not, but after Oliver told me he talked to you… I had to come, even if it wasn’t guaranteed you’d be here.”

Barry took a deep breath, so desperate to believe this could all work out, but some part of his brain was waiting for the catch to all of this. Eddie gave up being a king to be here after all. There had to be some repercussion to that.

“Eddie... why did you give up being king? You had it all.”

Eddie’s expression fell a little, but his blue eyes weren’t any less intense as they looked Barry right in his eyes.

“No. I never had it all because I didn’t have you with me. Being king never made me happy. It was always you that made me happy, Bar. Felicity will be three times the ruler that I could ever be, and I owe her the world for letting me come here to be with you.” There was an honest, optimistic glow in Eddie’s blue eyes, and Barry felt like he could stare into them forever. “Bar, I don’t care if we stay here, Gedova, or hell even Antarctica. If I’m with you, I’ll be just fine.”

The small feeling of warmth that had grown in the pit of his stomach was now a raging inferno hearing that. Everything he’d felt for Eddie—it was all real and it wasn’t in vain. For once he might be getting the happy ending he’d always wanted.

“Eddie… I—I don’t want to go through that pain again of losing you. I want to know that if you’re here now, that means you’re in it for the long haul because I know I am. I don’t want you to leave again.”

Eddie didn’t answer, and Barry didn’t get a chance to breathe because Eddie’s lips were tightly pressed against his, a hot, wet, desperate kiss that conveyed the longing, regret, and hope Eddie had clearly felt for him in their time apart and their time together now. Barry let his hands travel up Eddie’s body to cup the prince’s face, and Eddie let his hands settle on Barry’s hips. They were lost in each other’s touch and embrace that the pouring rain didn’t deter them in the slightest.

“Barry, I’m here for as long as you’ll have me because I love you. I love you so much that I would throw everything away: my title, my money, anything to be with you.”

Barry grinned and laughed through the wet, falling strands of hair that were starting to fall over his eyes.

“I love you too, Eddie. And now that you’re back, I’m not giving up on us, not now, not ever.”

Eddie, soaking wet with messy, falling hair, smiled that bright smile that Barry had missed so much, and pulled himself back into Barry’s embrace with another desperate kiss.

Barry’s mind wandered as he and Eddie continued to kiss, and he started to think back to when he was younger and read books about fairy tales. He always hated them for some reason, always believing it was unrealistic that the prince always got his happy ending. But right now, having him and Eddie confess their love for one another while being drenched in a thunderstorm overhead, and after every hurdle they’d had to face until now, he figured this was one fairy tale ending he wouldn’t mind so much.

He and the prince would get to live happily ever after—after all.

 

● ● ●

 

**Six Months Later**

Barry had come to learn, in the time since he and Eddie had solidified their relationship, that there were a lot of perks to dating Eddie Thawne. One such perk was that they flew on a private plane sent to them by Felicity explicitly to get them to Gedova fast enough for them to enjoy the country for a week before her upcoming wedding.

In fact, between Felicity and Eddie, all expenses were paid for him, Iris, and Joe and he felt guilty having Eddie do that for them, but anytime he protested Eddie just gave him a stern look that made him stop complaining before kissing the frustration off his face. It was just another part of the new domestic life he shared with Eddie, and he loved every moment of it.

“So, how much longer until we get to Gedova?” Barry asked Eddie who was engrossed in reading beside him.

“I’d say another six hours. I always hated the flights back and forth because they took so long. The last one when I was coming back to see you was the worst,” Eddie joked.

“Just couldn’t wait to see me, huh?” Barry teased. He looked out the window at the clouds passing the plane, and wondered just how he got so lucky. “You know, I’m glad I get to see Felicity in person. I owe her and Oliver a lot for everything they did so that you could live your own life the way you wanted.”

“Yeah,” Eddie breathed. It didn’t take much to tell that Eddie and his sister were extremely close, and the fact that she was willing to sacrifice so much for him—for them, it left a pit in Barry’s stomach at how badly he felt he needed to repay her somehow. “I know that look, Bar, and trust me, Felicity and I are one and the same. As long as we have the people we love with us, we’ll always be happy. She and Oliver are going to make a great married couple, just like you and I will someday.”

Eddie’s encouraging words lit a warmth inside him again, and Barry let his hand rest on top of Eddie’s, stroking his thumb of the smooth skin.

“Yeah we will. We just need to move out first,” Barry joked.

Eddie snickered and looked around Barry back at Joe and Iris who were both comfortably asleep on each other, most likely exhausted from the whirlwind of a day they had getting ready for the fourteen hour flight to Eddie’s home country.

Joe had insisted Eddie move in for a while, at least until he was comfortably accustomed to American culture which did take a while. Eddie was fine with most things. Making sure he drove on the right side of the road had been the only challenge at times, especially when Eddie was tired and had a tendency to regress back to his European ways. But Barry wouldn’t have changed it for the world. Having everyone he loved all together in one place was all he ever wanted.

“I’m glad Joe and Iris could come. I’ve been wanting to do something special for them ever since they let me move in with you all.”

Barry chuckled at that, looking back at his sleeping family himself and taking the quiet, happy view of seeing Joe and Iris so at peace.

“You’re pretty much family now, Eddie. I don’t think there’s much any of us wouldn’t do for you. Though to be honest, I think Joe is ready for us to move out. I think he’s starting to catch on to when we need our alone time, and I think it scares him how often that is.”

Eddie started to blush and it made Barry grin.

“You think Joe’s ready for us to move out?” Eddie muttered.

Barry considered the question only for a second, but nodded. Joe and offered to let Eddie stay with them as long as he and Barry needed, but that quickly started becoming an issue when the two of them were feeling a little too randy.

He’d felt especially bad after the few times he figured he and Eddie were too loud, but after an extremely awkward conversation where Joe acted as though he couldn’t tell at all, Barry knew it was probably time for them to move out.

“Yeah. I think the less Joe knows about our sex life, the happier we’re all gonna be.”

“Well… I guess it’s a good time for this then.” Barry curiously watched as Eddie fished around in his carry-on bag for a golden box that he pulled out and held out for Barry to take.

“Eddie, what is that?”

“Just open it, Bar,” Eddie urged.

Barry took the box and did just that, and to his surprise inside was a golden chain necklace, and attached to it was a key.

“While you were at work, I’ve had Iris help me pick out the perfect place for you and I. It’s a nice apartment only a few minutes away from Joe’s house, and close enough for you to get to work still, but it’s our place. So, I wanted to ask… Barry Allen will you move in with me?”

Barry took the necklace out of the box and put it on, and fiddled with the key, knowing full well he was grinning like a loon as he did so.

He looked up at Eddie, and leaned in to kiss the man, tasting the whisky on his tongue and lips as they kissed.

“So is that a yes?” Eddie teasingly asked as he pulled his lips from Barry’s slightly.

Barry laughed. “Yes, Eddie, that’s a yes.”

Eddie closed the gap again, and the two sat, fingers entwined as their lips pressed together. Eddie had surprised him with the offer to move in, and now Barry wanted to find some way to surprise him.

There were so many things he hadn’t experienced yet with Eddie, so many firsts they hadn’t had yet. They were about to have their first place together, and eventually, thanks to his sneaky, ways he’d be the first and only one to propose.

He didn’t know when yet, but it was coming because he loved Prince Eddie and Prince Eddie loved him.

And all good fairy tales deserved a true happy ending, and as long as they Barry and Eddie were together, they would always get theirs.


End file.
